In the Best Interest
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: Victor Creed can kill without thinking, rape is recreation, but a tiny bundle on his doorstep has him stumped.  When the tiny clawed fingers grip his, his life changes, forever. Can he raise his cub or will he have to seek help from very unlikely source?
1. Chapter 1  Prologue

Yet another one stewing in my brain. I'm beginning to wonder just how many burners there are up there. All the usual disclaimers, don't own, wish I did...

I know I've done versions of this plot before, but I keep coming up with a new twist, so here it goes.

Victor Creed can kill without thinking, rape is recreation, but a tiny bundle on his doorstep has him stumped. When the tiny clawed fingers grip his, his life changes, forever. But can he do it, can he raise his cub or will he have to seek help from very unlikely sources.

Prologue

_"You can't run frail." April could feel his breath on her neck. "No one can save you."_

_She ran faster, but he kept gaining on her. She felt his claws rip into her back and she let out a sobbing scream. He was going to kill her, this time. She deserved it. She looked down at the bundle in her arms, how could she have thought to keep his child from him._

_"I'm gonna cut you open and roll around in your skin when I catch you." She screamed again as his hand caught her ankle and she fell, twisting her body to protect the child in her arms.  
><em>  
>She jolted awake. Another damned nightmare. She shook her head. She was going to have to tell him, sometime. Her hand shook as she reached for the glass of water on her nightstand. He would be back for her soon, and she knew he'd kill her for being so stupid.<p>

Victor had been very clear, preventing a cub was her responsibility, not his. He just wanted convenient sex, the rougher the better. She knew she had scars on her back, hips and thighs from his claws digging into her. She didn't mind. He took good care of her otherwise. None of the others in the program were allowed to touch her, and even Stryker ignored her.

It wasn't like she was that important anyway. Her father had screamed just how useless she was over and over as he hit her, growing up. Her mother just looked at her like she was dirty scum on the floor, and usually held her when her father decided she needed a good beating. The worst one she remembered was on her tenth birthday. She'd started her period, and had been terrified she was going to bleed to death. She went to her mom for help, and was slapped for her trouble. When her father came home he'd given her twenty lashes with his studded belt for getting that "dirty blood" all over her new clothes.

After that her father had other ways to punish her, sometimes he would come into her bedroom at night, sometimes he'd punish her in the middle of the afternoon, and as she got older, the more he found reasons to punish her. After her mother died of a drug overdose, he'd started bringing friends to help him with the punishment. One of those friends had been Victor. She knew he paid her dad a lot of money to take her away, and here she only had to take care of him.

He'd been gone for about five weeks, with the rest of the team. She knew she was going to have to do something before they got back. She was afraid of the women that worked here, and didn't have anyone she could talk to. She knew what they called her "Creed's Whore" but she was safer here than she'd been in her entire life.

All she wanted was safety, not to be hit, or beaten, not to have multiple men using her for their entertainment. Victor was safe, as long as she didn't piss him off.

She remembered the day she first saw him.

April cowered in her corner, not even really a bed, Dad wouldn't waste money on furniture for her, when he could buy his booze and drugs. She heard voices outside the door and cringed even further back. Dad must have one of his buddies over. She tried to stop the tears, they would only get her beat before the stranger dragged her into the only room with a bed, the one room she was terrified of going into.

"...don't know why you're interested, she's a lousy fuck, can't clean worth shit, she's just wasted air." Dad was saying.

April heard what sounded like a low growl, and then a rough voice, "I don't like ta share, just be glad I'm in a generous mood. Now take the cash and get the fuck out."

She moaned as the door opened and the biggest man she'd ever seen walked into the room. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the hallway. Instead of turning toward her Dad's room he dragged her out the front door and practically threw her into the passenger seat of an old truck. He climbed into the driver's side, and with aa low growl, took off down the road at dangerous speeds.

She didn't know what to expect so she just stayed still.

"You got a name, frail?" His voice shocked her. The silence in the cab was only punctuated by her heavy breathing, and the occasional sizzle of him taking a drag off the cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"A...ap...April.". She finally stuttered out after he turned his black eyes to glare at her. She really wanted him to keep those on the road.

"What kind of stupid name is A..Ap..April." He finally growled. She just cringed further against the door.

"Well, at least you're saddle broke, and I ain't gonna have ta fight assholes off ya. You'll do." He turned back to watching the road.

He'd been true to his word, she only had to deal with him. Not that that was easy, his moods were more mercurial than her Dad's, and harder to anticipate. She'd shared his room at the base for two years now, and as long as she only fought him when he wanted her too, he didn't hurt her, much. She figured it was the best deal she'd ever get, and had done everything possible not to piss him off. His words, after that first night haunted her.

"Don't piss me off, frail, I'll just kill ya and buy another whore." She knew if he found out she was pregnant he'd kill her. She had to find a way to fix it before he came back.

She knew she could leave the base whenever she wanted, but there had never been a reason before now. She picked up the phone on the dresser and called the main gate.

"This is April, can you call me a cab. I would like very much to go shopping in town." She hated the weakness in her voice, the pleading.

"Yes ma'am." The guard said and hung up the phone. She quickly dressed in street clothes and waited for the call that would tell her the cab was here.

She scurried down to the gate, trying to ignore the looks from the guards. She hated the contempt in their eyes. She heard the whispers as she passed, only whispers because they knew better than to speak any louder. The last time anyone said anything to her about being his whore, they'd ended up in abour a hundred pieces.

"You're mine, they can keep their yaps shut." She remembered his words after that incident.

She climbed into the cab, and kept her head down. She gave the driver the address of a mall near the base. She paid the driver with the "pin money" he'd left her with. She walked slowly through the mall, not really noticing anything around her. She walked the mall for hours. She knew she needed to buy something or he'd be angry she'd left.

She walked into a store, not really noticing what kind of store it was. She wasn't really aware of her surroundings. She walked through an electronics department and was startled to hear about a melt-down at the base, one of the cooling towers has collapsed. She covered her mouth, as she watched the footage, hoping to see him, hoping she didn't. She never really knew how she felt about him, mostly fear.

She knew she couldn't go back to the base. He'd told her if anything happened she was to get out and get to a certain address, but now, she didn't know if she dared. She had a chance of him not finding her, at least not until she could do something about her situation.

She found a bus and climbed on, she really didn't know what she was going to do. She couldn't go home, her Dad would kill her, and if he didn't, the baby would be in the same place she'd been.

She saw a billboard for a family planning clinic, on one of the placards on the bus. She wrote the address down, and got off the bus as close to the address as she could get.

She walked until she got close to the address but instead of an office building, she found a church.

"Can I help you?" The woman was wearing a head covering and wore a skirt past her knees, and a blouse and sweater buttoned to her throat.

"I don't know..." The woman took her to the back of the church, and made a pot of tea. Somehow, over that pot April made a friend, her first real friend of her life, Sister Agnes. She found something else over the months, and as her delivery grew closer, she finally was able to think clearly about her future, and that of her child.


	2. Chapter 2

The elevator opened and he let out an angry snarl at the familiar scent, he looked up and down the hallway, but all he saw was a small basket on the ground near his door.  
>He nearly kicked it, but it moved. He leaned down and found where her scent was coming from. He hadn't thought of April in months. He thought she'd been killed in the mess with Deadpool, to smell her scent so fresh where he'd told her to go in case of an emergency made his hackles rise.<p>

The basket moved again and he caught another scent, right before the sound reached him, a strange gurgling sound. He reached down and moved the cover back from the top of the basket. He jumped as a tiny clawed hand grabbed his finger. He pulled back, tiny scratches healing almost instantly. Curiosity and something else made him lift the blanket higher, as it fell back, a pair of eyes as black as his looked out of a tiny face.

Tucked in next to the face was a piece of paper. He picked up the basket and opened the door to his penthouse. He suddenly understood what shock was. This was the last thing he expected. Why the hell leave a cub at his doorstep, he was the last person anyone would give a cub to, even if, from the looks of it, it was his cub.

He'd been very careful, and as far as he knew the only living evidence was a mistake he'd made years before with a work associate. She'd wanted a cub, promised him he wouldn't have anything to do with it, and for some strange reason he'd agreed. Of course the damned thing turned out to be human, not mutant at all, and the mother abandoned it. He sure as hell wasn't taking it on. He glared at the basket in his hand. He'd find someplace for this one too, he didn't have time for cubs.

He set the basket on the coffee table in the living room after kicking the door shut behind him. He pulled the paper out. It was the only thing not covered in April's scent. It had the scent of another frail, older than April.

He opened the paper.

_Victor;_

_I never did learn to read and write real good so I'm having someone write this for me. I have a new life, one where I am at peace, and not afraid. I thought about giving her up for adoption, but with her fingers and eyes I don't think she would have any better life than I had that way. She is your daughter, her name is June. I think it is best that she is with you. I know you think you own me, but please don't look for me. I cannot take care of her in my new life, it isn't that I don't want to, but it is just not possible. Please forgive me for running, and let me have the peace of my new life. I am not with another man and never will be, if that helps. She is two months old, and is on formula so you don't have to find breast milk._

_I am sorry,  
><em>  
><em>April.<em>

By the end of the letter he was pacing the room, randomly smashing any item that ended up in his hand. It was the sharp cry from the basket that grabbed his attention. He walked across the glass and ceramic and plastic strewn across the floor. He could smell blood, and yanked back the blanket. It had a small cut on its head. He growled, and wiped the blood away with a taloned finger. The blood didn't stop, and he looked closer at the cut. It had a small piece of glass in it. He used the tip of his claw to remove it which caused the cub to wail louder. He growled at it, and looked for something to use as some kind of bandage. He ended up pulling the tail of his tailored linen shirt out of the waistband of his slacks and ripped it off. He'd have to replace the shirt, and that was irritating.

He pressed the cloth to the cub's head, but it still wailed. He growled, and the cub screamed louder. He looked around the cub in the basket but there didn't seem to be anything but a strange looking rubber thing with a flat side attached to a round plastic thing with a ring of some sort, and a bottle full of something that seemed to smell like milk, but not.

He tried the bottle, he'd seen frails do this, it couldn't be that hard. He put the tip of the thing in the cub's mouth but it didn't shut up. He picked up the other thing and tried putting it in its mouth. It still screamed.

He looked around the room trying to find something that would shut it up. This hadn't been his year, and of all the crap; Jimmy abandoning him, Stryker going back on the metal deal, loosing April after the fight with Deadpool and not being able to track her. That frail would get her ass back where she belonged, under him in his fucking bed.

He'd forgive her about the cub, she tried to make it right, but she'd better remember who the fuck she belonged to. Speaking of the cub it was still screaming and he felt like his ears were starting to bleed. He reached over and shook the basket. That seemed to make it pause, then stop the piercing noise. He growled low, and it started again.

"Shit, cub." He reached into the basket and picked it up. Contrary to popular belief he did know how to hold a cub, he'd killed enough of them over the years, but he'd held more than a few, too. Mostly just long enough to hand it back to the frail, but he was somewhat experienced. It looked at him as he held it under its arms at his eye level. It blinked a couple times, and then started the wailing again.

"FUCK! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He roared, and not to his surprise the wailing got even louder. _Well, shit. _He thought. "Did you really think that was gonna work, dumbass." he said out loud.

The cub hiccupped, and stopped. He looked at it. "You want someone ta talk to ya?" He asked. The cub hiccupped again, and he sat down on the couch, leaned back and laid it down on his chest. It wiggled a little, and he relaxed now that the wailing stopped, for the moment. From what he knew about cubs, was they ate, shit, and slept. He put one hand on its backside and felt something squishy there...and then he smelled it. Shit was right.

He sat up and pulled the basket closer. Under the end of the blanket was a small bag, inside was a can of dried stuff that said "Baby Formula" on the side with a grinning cub on the label. There was also about six of those disposable diapers they advertised on TV. He grabbed one and glared at it. It couldn't be that hard.

One hour and all six diapers later, he finally got the cub covered. What did they shit, nuclear waste? That stuff stuck to everything. He was going to have to get a damned shower, but at least the cub was sleeping. He leaned back on the couch for a moment, and woke to a screaming wail that had his teeth on edge.

"God damn it, Cub. You can't be hungry, you're clean, or as clean as I can get ya, give it a rest." He said, remembering it liked to be talked to.

It looked at him, and he scowled. If stupid human frails could do this, so could he. He picked up the thing and walked into his study. Time for a little research. He sat down at the computer and realized he had no place to put the cub. He hated typing one handed, it was hard enough with two hands with his claws. Another thing he didn't understand about human frails, how they could do this with those damned fake nails.

He quickly learned that what April had left him wasn't nearly enough to get the cub through a day, much less a week or more until he could track the bitch down. He contacted his usual delivery person and requested diapers and formula with his regular grocery delivery. He looked at all the shit cubs needed, and just started ordering, with overnight delivery and set up. He was going to drag that frail back by her hair. Couldn't take care of his cub in her new life, his ass. The bitch was his, the cub was his, so she could just get her ass back here and take care of it.

The cub seemed to watch everything he was doing, and he felt a strange feeling, warm and simple, and the corner of his mouth turned up slightly. If anyone had seen him, they would have seen a proud smile on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

It took him six weeks to track her down. The bitch was going to learn who she belonged to.

He didn't even know why he wanted the frail. She wasn't anything to look at, she'd never been great in the sack, just a way to relieve some stress then kick her out of his bed so he could stretch out and sleep.

He'd never actually hit the bitch, and the only marks he'd put on her were from his claws during sex. She had enough marks from that piece of shit he'd bought her from. He'd made sure no one else bothered her, she could come and go as she pleased, and he made sure she had money if she needed it. What else did the frail want?

The cub wasn't helping things either, it screamed when it was hungry, screamed when it was tired, screamed when it messed itself, and sometimes, he would swear, it would scream just to piss him the fuck off.

He'd kept from killing it, so far. The fact that it was obviously his offspring, coupled with his own damned competitive nature, kept it safe. He wasn't going to allow some frail human, any frail human beat him at this.

Then there was that strange feeling, when he saw it lift its head by itself, or playing with its fingers and toes; which was a dangerous game for this cub, it reminded him of how he felt after a good, artistic kill. He had no idea why he'd feel pride watching a damned cub but he did.

Today he'd put the cub in one of those day care things. He had a frail to drag back and break again.

He'd never been very comfortable around places like this, and he kept looking up at the sky, expecting lightning to strike. The stone entrance reminded him of all the times he'd spat on the ground in front of churches like this over the years. He walked in the front door. There was a small entry way with a frail in a long black dress with a matching black and white headdress. He knew what a nun was, but he'd never seen one up close.

"I'm lookin for April." He said.

"April, let me think...you must mean Sister Mary Elizabeth. She cannot have any visitors. She is in a period of silent contemplation before taking her final vows. Are you a friend of hers?"

"You could say that." He muttered. The stupid frail wanted to be a nun? After all he'd done for her?

"She will take her final vows tonight, after Mass, if you would like to attend."

"No, just tell her Victor came by, and June is doing fine. Tell her I wish her the best." The nun nodded, and he turned and walked out the door. He'd never bought into the whole religion thing, but if she wanted to swear off sex the rest of her life, he'd let her go. Somehow, he knew she was better off, kind of like when Jimmy would go off on his own when they were younger, he felt abandoned again.

He knew the rage would come, but right now, somehow he knew it was the best for all of them. He'd never had any of those frail feelings for April, not like the affection he had for James, even after everything that had happened.

He picked up the cub, and walked back to the penthouse. He'd already moved James' shit out of his rooms and turned James' study into the cub's room. It still wanted to be held all the damned time, about the only way he could get any work done was to have one of those cage things in his office for it. He wouldn't admit even to himself how much he hated putting his cub in anything resembling a cage.

The elevator ride took forever, some old biddy wanted to coo at the cub. It took all his restraint not to gut the busybody before she got off ten floors below his. The only thing that stopped him was the old adage, 'Don't shit where you eat."

He opened the door and put the carrier on the coffee table while he took off his duster and hung it on the coat rack. To look at the place, you'd never think it was the lair of an animal like him. He picked up the carrier and went into his study. The cub was still asleep so he just sr the carrier in its 'play area' and looked at his desk. The voicemail light was blinking on the phone.

He hit the button to play messages.

"Mister Creed, this is Miss Andrews of Fisk Properties, you come very highly recommended by several other companies we work with. If you could put together an RFP proposal for your retirement program and submit it by Thursday for our competitive bidding process. Thank you."

He'd been waiting for that call. He made a quick note of the deadline, and waited for the next message to load.

"I don't know..." It ended. He frowned, a frail's voice, but when he checked the caller I'd the number was blocked. The next message was a hang up from a blocked call as well.

"I don't exactly know how to do this..." The same frail's voice, followed by two hang ups again. He was starting to get pissed.

"I need to speak to you, someone I know said you are the best, and I need the best for this." The same voice this time. "You can call me back at this number." He jotted it down. "I don't know what you charge for this type of thing, but I am willing to negotiate." He heard the voice crack, and the sounds of a hospital in the background.

This could be interesting.

That was the last voicemail, so he picked up the handset and dialed the number. He wasn't surprised when it wasn't answered. He waited, and sure enough, less than a minute after he hung up, his phone rang.

"Creed." He said, he could feel the growl in his voice.

"Mister Creed, I need something done." She said, he could hear she was still at the hospital.

"I don't do this over the phone. How the hell did you get this number?" He did growl this time, and heard the cub stir behind him.

"A friend of mine, by the name of Mortimer gave it to me, if I needed anything while he was out of town."

The only Mortimer he knew was green and ate birds raw. "Toad?"

"Yes."

"He's a friend of yours?"

"More like the uncle of...its not really important. He told me to call you if there was any more trouble."

"More trouble?"

"There's this guy, he's dealing drugs to kid..." He cut her off, too much detail on the phone was dangerous.

"Where can I meet you?" He asked.

"There's a park near...where I am now." She gave him directions.

"I'll be there in..." The cub woke up behind him and he bit back a groan. "One hour." That should give him time to change diapers and get a fresh bottle for their next outing.

"I'll be there." She said simply and hung up. He figured he'd know her by the scent of desperation and tears.


	4. Chapter 4

Karen sat on the park bench. She had no idea what this guy looked like, but she didn't want to miss him. Mortimer was the uncle of one of her students, somehow. He came to parent teacher conferences and PTA meetings. He told her last month that he had to go out of town, but if anything happened to call the number he gave her. He didn't give her a name, just the number.

Today four of her fifth graders collapsed on the playground at recess. She'd gotten to the hospital as soon as she could after school. The parents told her what happened. They'd bought some stickers from this guy, and worn them to school. There were drugs on the stickers, and the four had overdosed. She knew exactly who the guy was, she'd seen him around the school several times, talking to the kids, trying to give them things. She ran him off whenever it was her turn for recess duty.

He'd been there, today, as they were loading these four into the ambulances, passing out more of his 'free samples.'. He'd flashed her a sign that the gang task force officer had shown the teachers so they would know what to look for when watching for gang activity.

As she was going back into the building she heard him shout "Next time it'll be six, bitch. You can't stop me. You take me down ten more are ready to take my place. Gonna have fun wid you someday, bitch. Remember that."

She trembled on the bench, starting at every sound. She was surprised by a baby's cry.

"You the one that called me?". He sat down next to her. She was even more surprised when he put a baby carrier down in front of him and used his foot to rock it.

"Are you Mortimer's friend?". She asked.

"Yes, now what the fuck is this about?" She looked at him, he certainly looked intimidating with his dark crew cut, dressed in solid black, long whiskers down the side of his face, but somehow the baby rocking at his feet ruined it.

"I didn't know you had a baby, I wouldn't have called..."

"Just tell me why the fuck you called, frail."

She jumped a little at the growl, and the baby's sudden wail. "God damn it now the cub's wailin' again." She tried not to laugh, the really did, but the sight of him, especially his hands picking up that babe so gently, she couldn't suppress it.

"Now ya think I'm funny."

"No, just completely not what I was expecting, okay well the baby isn't what I was expecting." She composed herself while he settled the baby.

"There is this guy, he's been selling drugs around the school, I've turned him in a hundred times but he never gets caught. This morning at recess four of the kids in my class collapsed from overdoses, three of them died at the hospital, and we don't know if the fourth will make it." She choked back a sob and took a deep breath. "He was outside the playground walls as they were loading them into ambulances. He shouted 'next time it will be six.' He said even if I got him, there were ten more waiting to take his place. He threatened me, but I don't care about that, I want him stopped. The cops can't or won't do anything, and kids are dying."

"Frail, you know he told you the truth, there'll be ten more to come up behind him." She glared at him like he had two heads. He had to think she was a total idiot.

"Of course I know it, but this guy is giving free samples to grade school kids in stickers and candy. The next one might not." She said. "I'll take a might over a certainty of him killing more kids."

"I guess you've got a point. I don't do this cheap, frail." She knew that, she just hoped he'd give her a discount. "How much are you thinking a kill like this would run." He didn't mince words.

"I'm thinking around one hundred thousand." She said, knowing she could scrape that up if she liquidated a couple of accounts.

"Darlin' I don't do a hit under one million dollars." She blanched. She didn't know if she could come up with that much.

"How long do I have to come up with it?" She asked.

"I need half up front, the rest on complet..." The baby started crying. She watched him pick it up and noticed one of the legs of her onesie was twisted tightly.

"Hand her here." Somehow she knew it was a girl. "Her leg is all twisted." He glared at her, but passed the baby over to her. As soon as the baby was in her arms she had to fight back a wave of grief. She quickly straightened the onesie and the baby quieted almost immediately.

"How'd you do that?"

"What?" She said softly, absorbed in the feeling of an infant in her arms.

"Get her quiet." He said, she heard awe in his voice.

"Her leg was all twisted, she was uncomfortable."

"One week to get the down payment. One week after proof of death, the rest needs to be wired to an account I will give you. If not, I come after you."

She just nodded, she didn't know if she could get it all, but she could come close if she sold her parent's house and land back home. With what was left of Phillip's life insurance she should be able to pay him. She'd be lucky to have enough to live on with her salary, but it would be worth it if this asshole stopped preying on her kids.

She handed him the baby, and she started to fuss almost immediately. He put her in the carrier, and picked it up. He walked off. "Meet me back here in one week. You have my number if you change your mind."

She didn't know why she said it "If you need help, with the baby, call me, you've got my number."


	5. Chapter 5

Karen stood in front of the class, the chalk from the chalkboard making her nose itch.

"And who can tell me what Paul Revere did?" Only one hand went up. This was hard, these kids lost classmates just two days ago, the funerals weren't even set yet, and most of these kids were still lost and confused.

"Yes Jason?" He was Mortimer's nephew, and she was beginning to wonder if Mortimer had given her good advice. He said his friend could help with the problem, she just wondered if the price was worth it. She had the first half, barely, or would by the end of the week. Her second oldest sister and brother-in-law wanted to buy the house and land back home, and she hoped they'd giver the asking price, that would give her the other half, even if the house and land were worth three times as much.

Her parents left her the house, well her and Phillip. She blinked the tears back. She hadn't even heard what Jason said.

"Miss Green, come to the office, you have a telephone call." She signaled her assistant, and opened the door. She hurried to the main office.

"Line two." The secretary said her lips pursed like she'd bitten into a lemon. That couldn't be good.

"Miss Green here."

"I need you, NOW!". He practically roared through the phone. She could hear the baby in the background screaming.

"I'm in the middle of class..." She started.

"I don't give a flying shit, I can't get the cub to quit wailin'. Its not sleeping and I can't sleep." She wasn't responsible for his parental issues.

"I can't just leave class..." She started again.

"I'll cut my rate in half if you'll get here and calm this monster down." She heard real desperation in his voice. She didn't think the baby had even taken a breath.

"Fine, where's here?"

"He rattled off an address and she wrote it down. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

The secretary was already dialing the phone and she knew she'd get a substitute here as soon as possible. The principal opened her door.

"I want you in my office first thing in the morning." The woman glared at her. No this wasn't good at all.

She hurried back to her room and told her assistant she had an emergency to take care of. She grabbed her purse and coat and said good-bye to the kids. On her way she checked the cellular phone Phillip has insisted she carry. He'd called six times this morning.

She hailed a cab and gave him the uptown Manhattan address. She leaned back in the seat, already exhausted. She suddenly wished for a drink. She forced that impulse away. She didn't have time for self pity now. She'd gotten herself into this, now she had to deal with it, not try to escape.

The cab pulled up outside an expensive apartment building and she paid him. She climbed out of the cab and rushed in to the elevators. She punched the top floor button, and waited. The doors opened onto a lobby with three doors, she'd have known which one she was going to by sound alone. That little girl had absolutely nothing wrong with her lungs.

She rang the bell, and waited. He answered the door in just a pair of sweat pants, and those looked hastily put on, the seams were twisted. She pushed past him and followed the cries to a room off the hallway.

She was kicking and screaming, her little hands were bloody from clenching her fists so hard.

"What's wrong, little bit." She said softly as she picked her up. "Let's see, not messy, check..." She checked the diaper. "Not hungry, check..." The half empty bottle on the changing table told her that. "We're definitely tired." She whispered in a sing song voice.

Karen stuck her finger in the baby's mouth. "I think we found the problem." She looked at the frazzled father standing in the doorway behind her. "Do you have any rum?"

"Rum?" If anything he looked more confused.

"She's cutting a tooth, its a little early, but I can feel it." She said. "Any alcohol will do, but my preference is rum."

He just glared, then walked into the main room. She could hear him talking to himself.

"...frail wants to turn the cub into a fucking lush. If it shuts it the hell up I don't really give a shit." He came back into the room with an expensive bottle of rum.

"I just need a little bit on my finger." He opened the bottle and she stuck the tip of her finger in the bottle. Already the baby was settled down to huccuping whimpers. She ran the rum coated finger over the lower gums inside her mouth and even the whimpers settled down. She sat down in the rocking chair next to the crib, and hummed a lullaby while the infant drifted off to sleep.

"How the hell did you do that?" He looked stunned.

She shrugged her shoulders and never took her eyes off the sleeping angel in her arms. "Six brothers and sisters all older than me, I got to baby sit a lot growing up."

"Is she really asleep?" He actually looked afraid.

"Yes, daddy, now go take a nap, you look like you're about to fall over." She watched him stumble out of the room, and heard him sit down hard on something in the living room.

She gently stood and put the limp child in the crib. She unfolded the little fists and saw why her hands were bloody. The sharp little claws needed to be filed. She picked up her purse where she'd dropped it inside the nursery door and pulled out a nail file. She filed the sharp tips off the claws, at least the baby shouldn't hurt herself again.

She turned on the mobile over the crib and quietly left the room.

"It's been like that since the park." He said as she came into the living room. He was sitting on the couch, his shoulder's slumped, hands hanging limply between his knees.

"You should sleep, Mr. Creed."

"Victor."

"Where is her mother?"

"Gone."

"Why don't you call her?"

"She's a fucking nun, joined a cloister rather than live with me anymore." His head was hanging down, and she had no idea what his expression was.

"Maybe it wasn't you. She said as she sat down in a chair, dropping her purse at her side.

"Honestly, I think I was the final straw. She was broken when I got her, I think she did it to get away from the world. At least she's still alive."

She flinched at his words and hoped he didn't notice.

"I mean I didn't kill her for takin off like she did."

"Have you considered a nanny?" Karen asked.

"No. If you frail humans can do this, then I can." He growled at her. She almost chuckled at his competitiveness, but bit it back.

"So, you said something about being negotiable on your rate. This time he did glare at her, but nodded.

"I keep my word, I'll do yours for half rate, twenty-five up front twenty-five after completion."

"Okay, now go get some sleep, I'll sit with her if she wakes up." He glared, again, but stood up and staggered toward the hallway. She heard a door open, and then close.

She went back to the baby's room. She was going to have to remember to ask her name.


	6. Chapter 6

She was asleep on the couch when he walked back into the living room. She had his curiosity up, she smelled like pain when she was around the cub, but was exactly what his cub needed. She cared about cubs, she was having him kill a drug dealer for hurting 'her' kids, but it nearly reduced her to tears to look at his.

He moved quietly, and picked up her purse. She had no pictures, nothing in her wallet except ninty four dollars and sixteen cents, and her identification, teaching certification, and her social security card. He quickly memorized the number. He'd have his contacts check her out. He had the glimmerings of a solution to his problem starting to itch in the back of his head.

His cub needed a mother, someone who knew shit about cubs, someone that could keep it from screaming all night long, and let him get some much needed sleep. The damned cub had been keeping him up far longer than just the last few nights. He'd been able to nap when it slept, but last night was the first full night sleep in the six weeks the cub had been under his roof. He had some phone calls to make, and a kill to renegotiate.

He put her purse down silently, and walked down the hall. The cub was gurgling happily in her crib, but started wailing as soon as he walked into the room.

"Damn it cub, I'm just tryin ta feed ya." He growled.

"Growling at her won't help." He just glared at the frail.

"What's her name?" Karen asked as she lifted the screaming banshee from its crib.

"June."

"Hey there, June Bug, I bet your hungry." The cub settled right down, that idea in the back of his head started to percolate harder.

"She doesn't understand yet what you say, its the tone of voice and facial expressions you use that are important to her." Karen said as she quickly and efficiently changed the diaper, then the cub's clothes. She carried the cub on her hip to the kitchen where she grabbed a bottle out of the fridge. He watched in complete awe as she juggled the cub, the pot of water to warm the bottle, and the bottle itself.

"Is she on cereal yet?"

"Huh."

"I'll take that for a no, most doctors say as soon as they start to get teeth you can start baby food. Cereal is best to start them out with, you can mix it in a feeder with the formula." She said as the cub stuck one fist into her tiny mouth. "You might want to consider a teething ring, and a nail file, she's going to hurt herself if you leave her claws sharp."

She bounced the cub on her hip while she waited for the bottle to warm. "It's probably not necessary to warm them anymore, but I like to for breakfast anyway, fewer gas issues when you burp her."

"Burp?"

She gave him a look like he was a total moron.

"No wonder she's so cranky. You have to help her get the gas out, she's not just sucking in formula, but air as well, and that gets very uncomfortable."

"I think I'm doin pretty well since I'm tryin ta figure all this shit out on my own."

"You do know there is a public library with tons of books on child rearing?"

"Shut up, frail, and feed the cub before it starts screaming again, it hurts my ears." She had the gall to snort at him.

"She cries when there is something wrong, kind of like when you growl. And that irritates her little nervous system because she doesn't know how to respond to the vibration."

"Okay, smart ass. At least she ain't dead." He stormed out of the kitchen. She grabbed the bottle and went back to the cub's room. That idea was getting clearer. He walked by the door and saw her leaning over the crib. The skirt she was wearing was long enough for modesty, but bent over like that he had a very nice view of the curves of her hips and ass. Suddenly that idea was crystal clear, and would only take a few phone calls to set up.

"I'm goin' to my office." He growled.

"When did she have a bath last?"

"Bath?" Dumb frail asked the dumbest questions.

"Yes, bath."

"Uhh...I don't know."

"Well then I guess not in the last six weeks." She sat in the rocker holding the bottle. "Do you at least have baby wash?"

"I don't know, if the delivery service brought it, its in the table over there." She shook her head as he walked away.

She knew what she was doing with the cub, but damned she was bossy. He considered his idea again, and shrugged. It wouldn't effect him very much and she'd be good for the cub.

He picked up the phone in his office and closed the door, shutting out sound for the time being. He dialed his moving company and ordered her Bronx apartment packed into storage, then called one of his contacts to get a full background on her.

The last call was to his attorney's office. "Leibwitz?"

"Victor? What can I do for you?"

"I need some paperwork drawn up."

"What do you need now?"

"I need a pre-nuptual agreement, a mariage license, adoption papers for June and a medical release."

"Victor, what the hell...?"

"Just do it. The name is Karen Green." He gave him her social security number as well. "Get those here as soon as possible."

"Victor, you can't just..."

"Just do it."

"Victor, this I'd highly..."

"And make sure a judge has signed the license."

"Victor, you can't just force a woman into marriage, its barbaric."

"Did I ask your opinion? Just do it or I'll get an attorney that will."

The man spluttered a minute, but finally agreed.

Victor grinned, he was used to getting his way. The frail was his, she just didn't know it yet.


	7. Chapter 7

She grabbed her purse, she was so late, she'd given June a bath, and needed to get to the school. She really didn't expect to have a job when she got there, but she needed to go through the motions.

"Where are you going?" He snarled at her from the hallway.

"I've got a meeting with my principal this morning, I'd kinda like to keep my job."

"Sit down, we need to renegotiate." She glared at him. She thought they'd settled this last night. 

"I don't have time." He walked into the room and she glared at him. She had a bad feeling about this.

"I bought your contract out, you have all the time in the world."

She stared at him. Blinking several times until what he said sank in. "You did what?" She said softly.

"If you go back there, you'll be a suspect in the death, if it happens after you left, they might look at you, but not as closely, especially if you are out of the country when it is discovered."

She couldn't doubt his logic. Wait, out of the country?

"So what the hell am I supposed to do? I need that job."

"Actually, this is where we renegotiate." He sat down on the couch. She had to admit, in a button down grey shirt and slacks, without the bags under his eyes, he had a certain charm. But she wasn't going to let that disarm her.

"What's to negotiate, you lowered the price if I'd help you with June last night."

"Well, I'm thinking about doing it pro bono, but only if you agree to take care of June full time."

"What?"

"I'm offering you a job, there's a room off the cub's room for you to live in, all you'd have to do is take care of her." He stretched his arms along the back of the couch. She dropped into the chair next to where her purse had been sitting.

"I have a place, I don't want to lose my lease..."

"Taken care of, paid off your lease, and put your things in storage." He was grinning now. She wanted to smack the smug look off his face.

"You don't know anything about..."

"Born October 15th, thirty years ago, although you like to try to pass with twenty eight. Never married, no kids. Graduated University of Oklahoma School of Education, with a specialization in American History. Graduated Temple High School. Your parents owned a family farm, you have six siblings but your parents left you the whole thing. That has caused you some legal issues as they try to break the will. You got an influx of money two years ago when your fiancé died in a car accident, and more legal problems due to his mother trying to get her hands on the life insurance. You lost a baby in the crash, eight and a half months along. Somehow you came out of that accident with minor injuries."

"You call having your baby born at eight and a half months and stillborn a minor injury?" She could feel her blood starting to boil.

"That was the cub, not you, you had a couple sore muscles, but no cuts even with all the glass." This time the grin wasn't smug, but predatory. "Basically you have two choices, pay me for the job, or take my offer. There's no backing out now."

"Take care of June? Why? Why me? You said you didn't want a nanny."

"The cub likes you, she's quiet when you're here, you know the cub shit, and I don't. She needs a frail, your here, and, frankly, under my thumb."

That finally set her temper off. She was sick of _cub_ this and _it_ that.

"She's your daughter, if, and its a big if, I do this, you will stop the cub and it and anything else that would make her feel like an animal. She is a beautiful baby, and you treat her like an object, not a person. You will learn to talk to your child, and you will act like a parent..." She stopped with his hand around her throat and her feet a foot off the floor, and cracked sheet rock behind her head where he slammed it against the wall. He'd moved so fast she'd not even seen him.

"You have no room for negotiation here, Karen." He hissed, the loud scream from the baby's room belied his statement. He dropped her, and she rubbed her throat, she felt dampness on her fingers, but no cuts on her neck.

"Funny that, blood but not a scratch on you, and I deliberately used my claws." He almost purred in satisfaction.

"I'm not doing it. I'll have your first half here this afternoon." She wasn't going to allow anyone to manhandle her like that.

"You don't understand, I've changed my mind, the only option you have is June. June or me." This time the grin was predatory and sexy. She tried to push past him, to go check on June but he wouldn't move. She glared up at him.

"Fine, now let me go take care of her." She said with a growl he'd be proud of. He laughed, but kept her pinned against the wall. He reached up, one claw tracing the outline of her breast through her blouse, and she cringed.

"June it is then." He didn't look disappointed, and she rushed away from him as soon as he moved enough for her to escape. She didn't fool herself. He let her. Somehow she knew it wasn't her he was interested in. The whole thing at the wall was just too forced, planned, well executed, but planned.

June was not in a rage, or severe pain, her hands weren't clenched she was just crying for attention. Karen quickly found what the problem was, she could smell it halfway across the room.

"Someone's stinky." She said calmly. Just because he father was a total asshole didn't mean she should take it out on June. She heard him in the doorway behind her, and started issuing instructions.

"Yes, lets get that nasty thing off." She said quietly in an even tone to June. Over her shoulder she said to the man behind her. "If you talk to her in even tones, without raising your voice, or using any of your animalistic grunts and growls, she won't be upset. Babies understand tone of voice, not the words you are saying." Her tone never changed, and she heard him grunt behind her.

"Babies are startled by loud and unexpected noises, that's probably part of the reason she's been cranky. You have to be soothing around them." She unfastened the disposable diaper, and quickly cleaned her up. She applied a diaper rash ointment, and slipped a clean diaper under her backside. "Babies should only cry if there is a problem, of course we can't always see what they think is a problem. Diaper changes, hunger, sleep, those are somewhat obvious, loud noises, something startling them, a tummy ache from gas, colic, teething, those are less obvious. Then there's the completely out of the ordinary, like twisted clothing, scratches because their nails are too long or sharp, or wanting a change of scenery to stimulate their senses and help with the learning process."

"I really don't care about that shit." He said, but softly from the doorway.

"You should. I can see, when she's quiet and happy, you have a great deal of pride in her. her wellbeing should be the most important thing." She felt him move behind her, his feet were silent on the carpeting. "And she's smiling." She felt a surge of satisfaction. It was petty, but she couldn't help it. She'd made June smile.

June started cooing and raising her fists, and Karen picked her up. "She's a good girl, just wanted those stinky pants off. Lets see if Daddy has anything different to put you in today." She opened the drawers in the changing table, but no luck, just more of the same onesies, even the same color. She was going to have to do something about that too.

"What are you looking for?" He said from right behind her. She was proud she didn't jump.

"Something other than the same damned onesie to put her in."

"Does she need it?"

"Do you need to change clothes, and not wear the same thing all the time?" She snapped, causing June to start, but she didn't start screaming.

"Whatever." Something thin and plastic landed on the table next to June. "No more than two grand, I've spent enough on the cu...on June in the last couple of months."

"What?"

"If you think she needs a change of clothes, then go get her a fucking change of clothes." He bit back the snarl, she could almost feel it.

"I'll need to go back to...shit." She hissed the last part. "You packed my apartment up didn't you?"

"Yep." He was so damned smug, if she wasn't holding the baby she'd slap him.

"Well then, you're just going to have to give me an advance on my so far nonexistent salary so I can pick up a few things."

"That's the household account, just make sure you bring back the receipts."

"What's my spending limit?" This time she turned and glared at him.

"No limit, and don't go below 5th Avenue and don't come back with frumpy shit or I'll throw it out." She saw that smug grin again, and knew he thought he'd won a battle with her, she'd show him.

"You said out of the country earlier? What did you mean?"

"I've got a job in Cairo at the end of next week. You'll need a passport, so when the attorney gets here with the paperwork, just sign it."

"What attorney and what paperwork?" She sat in the rocker, and settled June on her lap sitting up.

"The attorney that will have your job contract for five years to take care of June, plus some medical disclaimers, a property waiver, expedited passport application, and some papers I need for my cover for next week." He glared at her, and she lowered her head to play with June. He could be a smug bastard, but she was in a corner, not quite the corner she was used to, either. There'd be no way to drown him out in a bottle, she couldn't afford to do that this time, not with a baby to take care of.

"And one more thing, anytime you're out, or if anyone asks why you're buying clothes, you tell them its for our honeymoon."

"What?"

"One of the documents is a marriage license...It will keep the cops off your back about the dealer, and give me the cover I need to take care of my Egyptian job. I'll drop you and...June..." she could see the effort to use her name and wondered exactly why he seemed to hate anything that didn't objectify the child. "off in one of my houses, either in Athens or Cairo."

"Are you crazy. Neither place is good to take a baby traveling right now." She said.

"Fine where do you want me to drop you off, and I'd better have a fucking house there or its a no."

"Venice?"

"I can do Venice, Palazzo Barbaro, to be exact, right on the Grand Canal."

She just gulped and nodded. Well if she was going to be in Venice, no better place than that.

"So I'm supposed to tell people we're married?" She said.

"Engaged for now, the wedding will be a quiet affair next week in a Judge's chambers. Attendance is not required." He growled low. She was surprised when June actually tried to growl back, which caused his growl to break into a real laugh.

"Damn straight she's my cub." He grinned. She had to grin back. She'd never had any doubt.


	8. Chapter 8

She wanted to take the stroller. He'd just thrown the thing in a closet. He glared down at all the parts. He'd insisted on set up for the furniture, but forgot assembly for the damned stroller. She could fucking take a cab.

He could hear her in June's room, calling him everything but a human being. He just chuckled quietly. He extended his claws and saw the line where he'd stopped, he'd put nearly an inch and a half of claw into the side of her neck, and two inches on the thumb, by all rights she should be dead, he could have sworn he'd perforated her jugular.

"Stupid idiot, can't seem to understand that a child is a person too. I swear he's the most arrogant, egotistical jerk I've ever met. Married, just who the hell does he think he is. Parenting isn't that hard, if he'd just make a fucking effort. Paid off my contract, my lease, took over my fucking life, no drug dealer is worth this."

It was all in that same calm voice she used when talking to June, but he'd be damned if she wasn't dressing him down as if shouting at the top of her lungs...and this actually stung more.

"I swear if I get a chance, I'll teach him a lesson or two."

He looked back at his claws. The bloodstains told the tale. She could heal, but he wasn't sure how much, or how often. It was better to save it for real emergencies. He slowly retracted his claws.

That had actually been his deciding factor, as much as he liked having a convenient fuck around, he didn't want to risk killing her and leaving him with that banshee to raise alone. He'd made it six fucking weeks, and ended up throwing in the towel. She fucking intimidated him where June was concerned. She came in, took over, made everything quiet and peaceful and he had no fucking clue how she did it. He was beginning to think she had two mutations.

"We're all ready." She said, June on her hip, and a pleasant smile on her face, as if she hadn't been cursing him to the four winds not three seconds earlier.

"Well the stroller's not." He said, keeping the growl to a minimum. She just looked at him, then at the discarded paper on the ground, and the back at him and shook her head.

"I guess you didn't bother with the instructions." She said with that snort he was starting to find very annoying.

"Instructions are for frails." He growled. She shook her head and the did the second worst thing she could have done, she handed him June and started going over the paperwork. The worst thing would have been laugh.

"Just take her and sit down." She was lucky he was holding the cub when she grabbed the Allen wrench from his hand or he'd have been looking for a new nanny. He watched her in amazement as pieces and parts started to disappear from the pile, and something resembling the box started to appear before him.

She stayed silent, had he'd be damned if she didn't have the stroller put together in less than ten minutes. "Now we're ready to go."

She walked over and took the cub out of his lap, and dropped the Allen wrench into his hand. "You can do the high chair."

He watched them walk out the door and he considered the wisdom of his plan again. The marriage was convenient, but not for the reasons most would think. It gave him control, better than the job did. She'd get attached to the...to June, and then not want to leave.

He hated thinking about the cub as a person, it meant she'd abandon him someday, too. If he didn't see her that way, it wouldn't hit him in the gut like Jimmy did, or even April. He wasn't going to let the frail get close. It just wasn't going to happen. He pulled the box with the high chair in it out of the closet. He didn't care that she had a great ass, or a rack that had him drooling in his room, when she wasn't looking.

He'd noticed her flinch from his touch, like most frails, she'd flinched, but he'd still picked up disappointment, and arousal as she walked away. If he wanted a fuck, she'd figure out quick he didn't take no for an answer, but he could pay less for it and keep a good nanny for the cub. He'd keep his pleasures contained with a few highly paid call girls. This marriage was on paper only. He wasn't about to fuck things up with having a frail for the cub. Six weeks, he couldn't believe he'd only held out six weeks. Worse than that he couldn't believe his only solution was to marry a frail and then not fuck her when he wanted, to make sure someone had the cub's interests in mind. How had his world been reduced to this?

He finished the high chair, instructions did help, and set it in the kitchen. Why the hell she needed the damned thing when they'd be leaving for Venice in a week he had no clue.

He dropped the wrench on the counter, and went to take a shower.

He slipped out of the penthouse, dressed for work, black fatigues, black T-shirt and his duster. He had a dealer to find, stalk and kill. He wanted this done to coincide with their trip, actually he planned on her and the cub flying to DC and meeting up with the plane there, after everyone thought he was already on board. He was going to have to enlist some help with that deception, but he didn't think Myst would mind a little extra cash.

He found the punk right where he thought he'd be, and set up to watch him. this would be a short tail, he was hanging out with his hommes on a corner, then back to his bitch for a fuck and a light up. Dealers were so predictable, not like teachers.

Yeah, she'd lost a mate and a cub, but he couldn't understand the AA meetings, there was no way, with a healing factor, she could have an addiction problem, unless she honestly didn't know about the mutation. But that made no sense. He'd seen the pictures of the crash, they both should have died, but she'd gotten off without a scratch, other than losing the cub.

"Shit!" He muttered, he'd been thinking about the frail, and lost the mark. He growled low, then followed his scent. He was right hour got to the mark's bitch's place, and the mark was getting a good fuck on.

He settled in to his perch, he didn't want to grab the mark until he was relaxed, at least drugged enough that he wouldn't give that much of a fight.

He went back to thinking about the frail. He knew she'd planned on quitting teaching and living on that damned farm in Oklahoma with Mr. Uptown Manhattan Cop. He'd checked into Phillip Banks, a good, clean cop who'd turned down an upper Manhattan precinct in favor of the Bronx. That he came from very old money didn't mean a thing, he'd been clean, almost too clean. Victor still had some digging to do, but he had a feeling that all wasn't perfect in paradise before that drunk driver hit them, killing Phillip instantly, and should have killed Karen instantly as well. The paper called her survival a miracle, but he had a more practical explanation, she had to be a mutant.

This time he didn't let his inner turmoil distract him from the job at hand. The dealer was shooting up now and the bitch was passed out. He grabbed the moment and slipped into the apartment. He didn't want to kill him yet, just get him under wraps. The mark didn't even resist, and Victor had a safe place to stash him where no one would find him until it was time for him to die.

He tucked the trussed up mark into his hidey hole, and left him. He needed to get back to the penthouse before the shopping spree was over.


	9. Chapter 9

She enjoyed the walk to Fifth Avenue, and June seemed to revel in the sunshine and attention she drew. Karen smiled at her charge, she was beautiful and somehow knew it. There was no doubt that she was her father's daughter. Karen pushed the stroller right into the Sak's lobby. She had a feeling this was where he'd wanted her to go to pick up a few things. She looked around and found the store directory. She headed for the elevators and women's wear.

She walked through but had no clue where to start. She'd never been left with nothing but the clothes on her back before. She needed everything and somehow wanted to get just a little bit of revenge against Victor for putting her in this position in the first place.

A sales clerk walked over and stood off, watching her. Karen felt like she was being scrutinized and found wanting. The woman approached, finally and Karen wanted to wipe the superior look off the woman's face.

"Can I help you, we have several items on clearance in the back corner." The woman's tone was cold as ice, and her smile matched. Karen smiled, but shook her head.

"No thank you, I'm just trying to decide where to start."

"I really think you'll find what you want in the clearance section, or in another store." The woman's tone got harder, if that was possible.

Karen bit her tongue. She knew how she looked, clothing she'd been wearing for two days and slept in, a baby in a stroller wearing a simple onesie from a discount chain, Her hair was barely brushed, and no makeup or cosmetics of any kind. She felt worse than when Phillip's mother had made an appointment at some exclusive designer boutique, and then not shown up, leaving Karen to try to tell those women she had her own ideas about her wedding dress. They'd ignored anything she said, treated her like nothing but a dressmaker's dummy, not a word TO her, but plenty to say about her. It had been the most humiliating experience she'd ever been through, until now. This woman was really getting on her nerves. She moved through the racks, feeling eyes on her back as she looked at clothing. The sales clerk moved off, but Karen knew she hadn't moved very far.

A younger woman walked over and smiled at her, and knelt down to talk to June.

"She's so sweet." The clerk looked at the blouse in Karen's hand. "I think we have that in your size." She said.

Karen smiled and nodded, finally someone who was willing to treat her like a human being.

"My fiancée and I are taking the baby to Venice for our honeymoon. The problem is I lost my wardrobe in an apartment fire and have absolutely nothing to wear."

"We can certainly take care of that." The younger clerk smiled. Karen watched the older clerk move to wait on a young man and his girlfriend or wife a distance away. She picked out several blouses that had patterns that wouldn't show spit up as well, something she had to consider if she took June anywhere. She picked out several pairs of slacks, and one or two skirts, nothing fancy, just things that were durable and not too expensive. Her urge for revenge had diminished somewhat. She was in the dressing room while the clerk watched June, and looked at herself in the mirror. She needed shoes, underwear, bras, stockings, something to sleep in. She just shook her head. She felt lost. She took out the things she'd rejected, and handed them back to the clerk.

"I'm going to need everything." She said simply, a slight tear trailing down her cheek. She hated shopping, hated feeling like people thought she was some kind of Bronx whore, as Phillip's mother called her.

"I'll get someone from intimates and shoes over immediately. Don't worry, by the time we're done, you'll be amazing." The clerk smiled. Two hours, a complete foundations fitting, five pairs of shoes and six outfits later, Karen stepped from the dressing room in a simple pair of black slacks and a light cardigan and blouse combination. She was trying to decide if she needed it.

"If you're going to Venice, you are going to need some dressier things for dinner and evening events." The clerk suggested as Karen turned in front of the three way mirror.

"My fiancé hasn't said anything about that, and with June going, I doubt we'll have a lot of evening outings." She was still trying to decide if she wanted the outfit or not.

"Well, what does your fiancé like to see you in."

"Well he hasn't said much about what I wear."

"If I may ask, is he a regular customer?"

"Victor Creed?"

"Oh, Mr. Creed, you are one very lucky woman. He has very exacting taste, I'll call one of the gentlemen from men's wear over to help us find that perfect outfit for you." She wasn't sure a men's wear associate would be able to help.

"I also need to get June some things for the trip."

"I'd recommend things in her current size and the next size up, they grow so fast." They exchanged a quick grin. This girl was very helpful.

Gary, the gentleman from men's wear was also amazing. He insisted Karen buy the outfit she was wearing and another five more, plus two cocktail dresses, several simple day dresses, and two evening gowns. He gossiped the whole time, and talked about his life with his partner. Karen wasn't used to openly homosexual men, but found him funny and charming and couldn't help following his advice. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the first clerk looked more and more angry over the course of the afternoon. They sent items over from children's wear for her to approve or disapprove, and she tried to stay mindful of his budget for June. She didn't want to go over. A woman from cosmetics came in and she told her what brand she normally used, and she quickly had all her cosmetics replaced as well.

Once Gary got involved, it turned into a very fun experience. He finally suggested an outfit for her to put on while they rang up the rest of her purchases.

"Would you do me the honor of letting me burn these?" He asked, holding her old clothes in the changing room door as she changed into a silk shell that seemed to flow off her shoulder, a simple cardigan in a contrasting color, and a pair of black slacks with a sling back pump with a modest two inch heel.

"Please, I never want to see that outfit again." She laughed.

As soon as the last of their purchases were wrapped and put in bags, and a complimentary limo called to take them back to the penthouse, Karen picked up a double handful of the bags and walked over to the first clerk. She was still helping the other couple.

"I guess you are paid by commission?" Karen said with a smile. The woman nodded, something that had to be difficult with her nose in the air. "Well, as you can see, you made a big, mistake. Big. HUGE." She turned to walk away, and saw a young man nearby taking notes.

"Ah, Mr. Marshall, is there anything I can do for you?" Gary, from men's wear asked the man sitting outside the dressing room.

"No, but I am going to have to use that someday, that was priceless." Karen pushed the stroller with June in a new outfit too, while three clerks followed her to the limo. She had too much to fit in a cab.

The penthouse was empty when she got back, and Karen was glad he'd given her a key. She noticed as she dropped her load of bags in the living room that somehow he'd managed to get the highchair finished. The limo driver brought more of their bags up from the car, and it took him several trips to bring them all. She looked at the huge pile of things on her bed, and the not much smaller pile of bags in June's room. Now she had to put it all somewhere.

She tipped the driver fifty dollars, and closed and locked the door behind him. She could hear June cooing in the crib where she'd put her before folding the stroller and putting it against one wall. Karen decided to start on June's things. Two thousand dollars went a long way toward getting her a real wardrobe.

She was hanging up some of the dressier outfits, the clerks had left them on the hangers for her, when she heard a low growl from the main part of the apartment. June froze, and then started to whimper. It looked like Daddy was home.

"We're in June's room." She said calmly, and just slightly raised her voice."

"Who the fuck else is here?" His voice was low, and she felt the vibration through the floor all the way from the living room. Somehow she got a sudden sense of danger.

"The limo driver had to help us with the bags." She said, as she tried to stay calm.

"Limo driver?" He was closer, but not in the room with them yet.

"Well I needed everything, and when you have to have under things, night things, cosmetics, shoes, stockings, day clothes, and the guy from men's wear was sure I'd need dressier things, and then June's things and she needed, well almost everything too, it was more than I could carry with the stroller. Everything wouldn't fit in a cab, so they ordered us a limo, complimentary of course." She could feel him in the doorway. She turned and gasped. He was dressed all in black again, his claws digging chunks out of the doorway lintel and his eyes pitch black. "I left the receipt on the table in the kitchen."

"What the hell are you wearing?"

"Do you like it?" Clean clothes certainly helped her feeling of well being and confidence in light of his strange behavior.

"No."

"Gary was sure you would." She felt a little surge of disappointment, and gave herself a mental slap. Why the fuck did she care if he liked it or not?

"Gary?"

"The men's wear clerk at Sak's."

"That queer that likes to grab my ass when marking my pants for tailoring?" She heard an almost rumble of laughter in his growl.

"All I know was he seemed to know what you like." She said, turning to hang more of June's clothes in the closet.

"Well I hate that, it smells like queer tailor, limo driver, and a store full of men wanting to bang you against the wall." She heard wood creak under his hands in the door.

"I didn't ask what it smelled like." She said as she put more clothes away for June who was starting to fuss. He was going to have to learn that he couldn't act this way around June. The baby needed a calm atmosphere.

She stopped hanging clothes and picked the baby up, and sat down in the rocker. "Do you mind, she's getting upset, and I have no idea why. I did what you told me to, and even came in under budget on June's things. If you really want to be helpful, make a bottle."

He glared at her a moment, and then with splintering of wood, walked out of the doorway and to his room, she could hear him growling until the door closed. She blessed the silence a then snuggled her charge. She sighed and stood up. She guessed she'd have to make that bottle herself. He wasn't going to intimidate her.


	10. Chapter 10

He stood under the cold water. She had no idea what he was trying to do, and she had to wear that outfit. The silk clung to her curves in just the right way, the cardigan didn't hide anything, the soft wool clung to her arms, and had him wanting to taste the skin under them. Since he first saw her, he'd fantasized about the taste of her skin, the feel of her body under him, not struggling, but straining, begging for his touch.

He closed his eyes and the picture of her standing there at the closet, those black slacks clinging to her ass, down her thighs, thighs he imagined opening, welcoming him. He growled low, shaking his head. It wasn't going to happen. He couldn't allow it. His mind didn't listen, and the images flowed across in flashes. Her on his bed, clothing shredded, scrapes from his claws on her skin, blood smeared across her ivory skin. Him holding her hands over her head, her body under him, his cock buried deep inside, hips thrusting deep in her as she screamed.

He growled in frustration. His cock in his hand was ready, he could feel the orgasm just out of reach, but this image, what he normally did with a frail, it wasn't bringing the normal result. He wanted her, but not by force. Somehow a strange new image came, her eyes soft, her body moving with him, her hands free and stroking his skin, her lips open and panting his hands tangled in her hair as she screamed his name.

Hour felt the hot rush, his semen host and sticky on his fingers as he climaxed under the water pounding on his back. He moaned, the climax was there but not satisfying. He knew he'd never find the completion he needed, not now. Not ever. He needed her, but June needed her more.

He finished his shower and dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and a pull over polo style shirt. He needed to talk to her, explain things. He growled at himself. She was a fucking frail. She'd learn to do as she was told, he didn't owe her any explanations.

Her scent caught him by surprise as she stepped from his room. She was hungry, the type of hunger that meant days without food. It suddenly hit him, he hadn't seen her eat anything since she got here. He looked into June's room, Karen was sitting in the rocker, asleep, June curled up in her arms.

He had a strange feeling, a warmth that he'd never felt before. He shook his head, and walked silently into the room. He gently lifted the cub and laid her in her crib, covering her with a blanket. He heard a soft sigh behind him and turned. She was awake.

"You need something to eat." He said softly. He didn't want to wake June.

"I'm fine. I'll just go to bed." He wanted to growl, but knew it would wake the baby.

"Get your ass into the kitchen, now, or I'll drag you by your hair." He said in the same soft tone. She just glared at him, and stood up. She walked to the door, but it was the wrong door.

"Good night, Mr. Creed." She closed the door behind her and he turned and stormed out the damaged doorway to the hall. She was a stubborn pain in his ass. He wasn't going to let the frail get by with this. She was going to eat if he had to force the food down her fucking throat. He'd never been this angry, or had to control his reactions to it this well. She was pushing him, and he was honestly afraid he'd break, and destroy everything he was trying to build.

He grabbed a prepared meal out of the freezer and threw it in the microwave. The cook would be here tomorrow to restock, and he needed to add the list of things Karen had given him for June to the grocery delivery. Jars of baby food, cereal, and some kind of special feeder bottle, he had no idea what she planned on doing with half the shit she'd had him order.

He sat down in one of the dining chairs and stared at the high chair. When the fuck had he gone soft? The frail in his house hadn't even been broken in yet, he had cub shit all over the place, he couldn't go anywhere except his soundproofed room or office to get away from signs of the cub, and here he was, warming up dinner for the frail instead of dragging her ass in here and forcing her to do it herself.

This time he did growl, but kept the volume down to avoid waking June. Damn it he was changing, his habits, his behaviors, for some tiny bundle of flesh that he hadn't wanted, hadn't cared shit about, and suddenly was the center of the world. She was his.

That's when it hit him, June was his. His offspring, his cub, his responsibility to raise, and try to keep her from turning out like him. She had his eyes, his chin, his hands - and claws, she had ten perfect fingers, ten perfect toes. She was perfect. She was his. That warm feeling, the one from the nursery came back and he felt something strange. His eyes were burning, and he felt something moist on his cheek. Fucking cub actually brought tears to his eyes. She was something he'd never expected, and suddenly something he couldn't live without.

The frail, that was something else. He didn't understand why he wanted her to stay, she was stubborn, judgmental, annoying, and completely off limits, yet he couldn't go to sleep without thinking about her skin against his, her breath in his ear, her heart beating. He'd left his door open, just so he could hear her, smell her. The thought that other men had been lusting after her today, that that queer had his hands on her, touching her, that she'd been ogled and touched by anyone other than him made him mad with anger and another bitter feeling he wasn't used to feeling, jealousy.

The microwave went off and he pulled the container out. It was roast beef with stewed vegetables and he sneered at the green shit, but frails needed that crap. He put it on a tray with silverware and a napkin and carried it to her room.

"Karen?" He said softly.

"Go the fuck away, I'm tired and I need to sleep." She said with a growl of her own in her voice.

"You need to eat first. I don't think you have in two days." He wanted to kick himself, he actually sounded like he was asking her to do something, not issuing an order.

"Go away." She was lying on the bed, her back to him.

"Karen, I'm leaving the food here on the dresser. I expect it gone by the time I come back." He did growl it and heard a slight whimper from the room next door. The frail made him so angry.

"Fuck you." She muttered.

"I mean it. I'm going out, have to check on your dealer. He's on ice and I don't want him dead until its time to kill him. I'll be back later. You'd better fucking eat." He turned and stormed out. What the fuck was her problem?

The elevator moved too slowly, and he didn't go anywhere near where the dealer was hidden. The fucker could starve to death for all he cared. He just needed to get away from the frail. The bar was crowded, like always, but his usual spot on the end was open. Surprisingly the spot next to it wasn't.

"Hey, Vic. How's things goin'?"

"I don't know if I should string you up by your tongue and gut you, or thank you." He grumbled as he sat down next to his old friend. One of the few mutants he could tolerate for any length of time, Mortimer was one of the few he actually considered that, a friend.

"For what?" Mort took a drink from the glass in front of him. It must be bad. Mort never drank hard liquor straight.

"Karen Green." Victor said as he signaled the bartender for his usual, double scotch, neat and leave the bottle.

"Thank God, I've been looking everywhere. I was afraid that punk got to her." He smelled relief from the amphibian mutant.

"No, she called me, hired me to kill the bastard, now she's living at my place taking care of June." Victor downed the drink, and poured another.

"June?"

"My cu...my daughter." Victor said.

"DAUGHTER!" Mort looked at him in total shock.

"I don't exactly wear a condom, frog face." Victor growled.

"Who's the mum?"

"Kid I picked up two years ago or so, bought her from her abusive sack of shit father."

"And Karen's taking care of the baby, why?"

"The kid joined a convent after she gave me the cub, about six weeks ago." Victor wasn't sure why he was telling Mort all of this.

"And Karen?"

"She called three days ago, wanted me to kill the dealer, three of her kids..."

"Yeah, I know that part, Jason was almost one of them, but I'd taught him better. He brought me the stickers instead." Mortimer was seething anger again.

"Jason?"

"Kid I found, dangerous but controlled mutant, can melt polymers and other non naturally created objects with his bare hands. He stays with Callisto and the other Morlocks, but he wanted to enroll in school, so I kinda adopted him."

Victor just nodded. Toad's association with the underground mutants in the city was something they both agreed was a good thing.

"Is she safe?" Victor was surprised by the answer. "She's not hurt?"

"She's fine, stubborn but fine, and if she doesn't eat something before I get back, she's going to be in a world of hurt."

"Victor, how old is the baby?"

"About four and a half months, why?"

"Just, after what she went through, I'm not sure..."

"She's just fine. She's real attached to June already. I probably couldn't pry her out of there with a crowbar unless my cub was attached to her hip." He growled at that thought too. She was a permanent fixture, and he planned on keeping her that way.

"Do you know anything about her?"

"I know enough. I know about the fiancé and the baby, I know she survived a crash that should have killed her, and I know that she's driving me insane. I don't understand the AA, not with her mutation, but I even understand her trying to drown shit in a bottle."

"Like you're doing?" Mort said pointing to the empty scotch bottle, and the half full one next to it.

"No, I'm trying to get drunk enough to pass out when I get back, if not, I ain't sure she'll be safe." He growled.

"It's like that is it, and what mutation?" Mort did a double take.

"She's a healer." Victor extended his claws and showed Mort the blood line. "I had my claws that deep in her neck, and there was only a smear of blood. I don't think she even knows she has it. I told her but I don't think she believed me."

"Good thing that fiancé of hers never found out." Mort said. "He was deep in a new group called the Friends of Humanity. They hate us, try ta kill us on a regular basis."

"Shit, I knew his background was too good to be true."

"You can't tell her." Mort said. "It would destroy her."

"She won't know or care. We're getting married tomorrow." Victor said.

"What?"

"Cover, I've got a job in Cairo, gonna drop her and the cub in Venice for a 'honeymoon', then go to Cairo, do the job and rejoin them there, actually could use a pilot for the run, if you're available."

"Hell yeah, and I'm stayin' with them. If you hurt her, Vic..."

"She's safe. I won't hurt her, not and risk her not being there for the cub."

"Victor? You just said you're tryin' ta get drunk so ya don't hurt her?" Mort said.

"Hurt, no, fuck into next week, yes." Victor growled.

"That's the same thing with you." Mort said, and Victor could smell his anger.

"Not with her. I can't even get off fanaticizing about raping her, and you know I don't have much experience with anything else."

"You're wanting her willing?" Mort looked confused.

"Willing, hell begging for it, to be honest, but I don't have the first clue on how to get her there."

"Well shit, I mean she could probably use the fuck, but damn I have about as much experience with willing women as you do." Mort downed another glass. "She's definitely one that I'd like a shot at..." Mort's words were choked in his throat by Victor's hand.

"Don't even think about it. She's mine."

"Okay." Mort croaked. "How are you going to convince her of that?"

"I don't know yet." Victor killed off the second bottle. "That's why I'm drinkin'."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N THANK you all for all the wonderful reviews. For those new to reading my stuff, when I get on a roll on a story that's it for some of the others until I'm done. Feline Sanctuary is currently in the works, but I can't get Karen and June out of my head, so I'm concentrating on them.

For some reviewers, and you will know who you are, DO YOU EVER SLEEP! I woke up to the wonderful experience of my email overflowing with reviews over the weekend and I loved it.

The Victor/Rogue that I've been working on, Scent of Prey is not exactly on hiatus, but I am waiting to get some spoilers on Avengers before I pour too much Pepper/Tony action in on Vic and Rogue. Its not that I'm not working on it, but I don't want to have to go back and rewrite Pepper/Tony, they're not easy for me to write in the first place.

For those who have read my song or album based fic's I've got another one in the works, I won't mention the song yet, but we're visiting Metallica...with a definite Victor twist. It will probably be the next major project after this one, and this one turned into more of an epic than I thought it would, but these characters are growing on me.

I know, for those who have dealt with me with multiple epic style works going at the same time. I am completely concentrating right now on Feline Sanctuary, In the Best Interest, and the new upcoming one that is in outline stage. Feline is fully outlined, and for those who like the Television Show Sons of Anarchy there will be a cameo by SAM-CROW in a couple upcoming chapters.

Interest has grown as I said from a simple Vic as a daddy project to something that will take it from where it is now, around 1980 through X-3 at least and beyond. I know this is a long A/N but I wanted to get everything out in one burst.

For those who caught the Pretty Woman reference. GRIN!

Enough about me...on with the Story.

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She woke up slowly, the smell of food penetrating her slumber. She rolled over and saw the tray on the dresser. She sat up and groaned. She'd fallen asleep in her clothes, again. She threw the covers back, and stood up and stretched. She walked into June's room, but she was sleeping peacefully.

Karen walked back into her room and picked at the food on the dresser. Someone was going to have to take over cooking around here. This was totally bland. She carried the tray to the kitchen, and opened the fridge. There were no vegetables, no fruit, nothing but prepackaged meats and cheeses. The freezer was full of frozen meals, but she had a feeling the over cooked pot roast had come out of there. She went through the cabinets but there wasn't any improvement, mostly canned meats. She started to understand why he was so cranky.

She found his grocery list and thanked her lucky stars he hadn't called it in yet. She marked a few things off, and added things like pepper, salt, garlic, onions, thyme, oregano, basil, cumin, chili powder, fresh peppers and other flavorful vegetables.

She made sure he'd added the things for June. With her teeth coming in early, and the obvious mutation, Karen wanted to see if she could handle baby food, the bottles didn't seem to satisfy her for long.

Karen grabbed her purse and counted how much money she had left. She found a phone book in a drawer near the wall mounted phone in the kitchen. Pizza was definitely on the menu tonight. She placed her order and dumped the mess he'd left down the garbage disposal where it belonged.

She sat down on the sofa in the living room and turned on the television until the pizza arrived. It didn't take five minutes for her thoughts to turn back to her new employer slash prison keeper. There was something about him. Not the dangerous part, she got that, but something else, something that was like an open wound that wouldn't heal.

She tried to remember anything he'd said that might give her a clue. He really hadn't said much about himself, probably the most revealing thing he'd said was about June's mother. She'd left him, chosen to go into a cloister instead of being with him or a mother to her child. He'd also said she was broken when he got her, not met but got like a lamp or other possession. He had money to spare but the phone hadn't rang once since she'd been here, he seemed to have no friends, no family. His mutation was obvious, at least parts of it, the claws, the fangs, the predatory nature, but his comment about her outfit, and what it smelled like made her think there was more to it.

That brought her to him claiming she was a mutant. Could she be? She'd always been lucky as a kid, she'd get scrapes and bruises, but the went away quickly. She never thought of it as a mutation. Her oldest sister, Debbie was the same way. That made her stop. Debbie was almost fifty years old, and still looked thirty, maybe younger. She hoped that this mess over the farm could be settled, she needed to talk to her family.

She felt so abandoned by them, none of them were speaking to her because her parents left her and Phillip the farm instead of trying to divide it or sell it. Something about the way he'd talked about June's mother made her think he was feeling abandoned too. Before she could think too much about that, the doorbell rang and she jumped.

"Pizza." Said a voice through the door.

"Thank God." She whispered as she pulled cash from her purse to cover her order plus a tip.

She cautiously opened the door, and took the box from the teenager.

"Thank you." He said. She smiled and waited until he was in the elevator before starting to close the door. The second elevator opened and Victor stepped out, a scowl on his face.

"Damn it, tell me you didn't order the pizza." Was all he said as he pushed past her, into the penthouse.

"I was hungry and there wasn't anything worth cooking in the house." She snapped back.

"At least tell me there's no green shit on it."

"Just meat." She said as she dropped the box on the counter in the kitchen.

"That'll do I guess." He grabbed a slice as she opened the lid. She quickly grabbed one as well.

"You don't like pizza?" She asked.

"Not usually."

"Why?"

"Why the fuck...never mind. Part of my mutation is enhanced senses, all of them, including taste. Most of the time they're too over spiced for me, gives me a stomach ache." He took a big bite of the slice in his hand. "You managed to find the only pizza in New York I can eat."

"Oh." She nibbled her piece. She didn't want to eat too fast and get sick.

"Did you eat the roast?"

"No, it tasted like crap." She groaned. Then hoped he hadn't cooked it.

"It was fine when I ate it last week, maybe just the difference between us. I'll tell the cook." She was surprised at how calm he was, and then he reached for another piece, and she caught the smell.

"You're drunk."

"Not as much as I was when I left Mort at the bar, but yeah." He glared at her.

"Mort, as in the one who gave me your number?"

"Yep, that reminds me, how'd you stay drunk enough to get court ordered AA?"

"That is none of your business." She grabbed another slice of pizza before it was all gone.

He gave her a smug grin. "I tried, tonight, but frankly I have to drink like a fish, and not take a breath to get a good solid buzz that lasts more than two minutes. I downed ten bottles of scotch in thirty minutes, and I'm already almost sober."

"I'm not explaining anything to you." She threw down her half eaten slice of pizza and stood.

"Wait. We need to talk." It came out a growled order. She glared at him but sat down, her stomach winning the battle with her pride.

"Fine."

"Mort's gonna fly us to Venice and stay with you and June until I get back from Cairo. There's gonna be another mutant along on the first leg, her name's Mystique. She's a metamorph, can turn herself into anyone, so she's gonna make it look like I'm on the plane with you until DC, then we'll switch places."

Karen just nodded. "Why the switcheroo?"

"That's when I'll kill your problem, and in such a way the school will be off limits to dealers."

"Oh." He was so matter of fact over it. She still had no regrets, not about why she'd hired him.

"It will look like we're off on a honeymoon, and hopefully the kill will get passed off as a turf war."

"Sounds like you have it well planned."

"When we get to Italy, I will stay a few days, and then get an urgent call from an accounting client and have to take the short trip to Egypt."

"Accounting?" That threw her for a loop.

"Yeah, what the hell do you think pays the bills, I own an investment firm." He was looking at her like she was an idiot. "The hits are for my bloodlust, also part of the mutation."

"Oh...a man of many talents." She quipped.

He just glared, then continued.

"This marriage is legal, on paper. I see no reason ta get sentimental over any of it. It is only on paper, so don't expect anything."

"I have no idea what you mean." She finished off her slice and reached for the last one. His hand caught hers and he tried to take the slice. "Hey, I paid for it, if you want the last slice order your own."

He let out a low snarl, but pulled his hand back.

"I know people who would be dead for that." He said threateningly.

"I'm sure you do, now is there anything else, before I check on June and go back to bed?"

He looked at her and suddenly her face flushed. Phillip never looked at her like that, but it made her knees weak.

"No." The word was almost ripped from his throat. Karen wasn't sure he was answering her, or something going on inside his head.

She took her last bite of the pizza and stood up to leave. She brushed past him, but his clawed hand grabbed her wrist, spinning her around until she was between him and the stainless steel refrigerator.

One of his huge hands held her wrist, the other he used a single claw to trace her lip. She trembled, she hadn't been touched like this in years, and she felt like every nerve in her body ended in her lip.

He leaned down, his massive bulk pinning her effortlessly, as his tongue traced the same line as his claw. She moaned, and leaned forward, begging for more. Her free hand was clenched in his shirt, and his eyes seemed to be locked on her lips.

He never moved, his body was like a tense spring, and when she released his shirt to and moved to touch his cheek, the leashed energy exploded. She didn't know how she ended up against the entrance to the hallway.

"Go to bed, and lock your door." He snarled. "Both of them. I will take care of June tonight."

She ran down the hallway and slammed her door. She looked at the knob and realized the locks were very sturdy. She threw the lock, and the one to June's room.

She didn't know what happened, but one thing hit her. He'd not struggled over the baby's name. She trembled, then let out a little moan. She didn't know if she could handle five years of his mood swings.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N

I wasn't talking about you Jinx, but welcome to the fold, and if the shoe fits.

During the week, I'm only managing one chapter, mostly because these are longer (I'm writing most of these on my lunch break at work on a Blackberry, so please excuse typos and the wonders of autocorrect.) I will be out of town this weekend, but I will try to get two updates up at least. So apologizing in advance for those used to the fast updates, but I'll do what I can, and not get texting thumb.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Victor growled low as she scurried down the hallway, he heard the lock on her door and felt his claws scraping the granite of the counter top.

How could he have been so stupid, so fucking frail. He had to get better control than this. A simple conversation over pizza, and he'd had her against the damned fridge ready to...what?

That had been what stopped him, he had her where he wanted her, her scent thick with arousal, ready for him, and he'd frozen. He didn't know what to do next. He'd tasted her lip, the fine sheen of sweat on his tongue as arousing as the overpowering musk scent coming from her. She'd started to touch him, and that's when the confusion hit.

She wanted to touch him, he'd never let a frail touch him freely, only by force, and only in certain places where he could control the contact. Her fingers had just brushed his cheek before he'd thrown her across the room. No frail touched his face, hell no male either, unless it was in a fight. He had too many memories of Mrs. Howlett, brushing her fingers over his cheek, thinking he was asleep, as she left his father's bed. Of his father hitting him in the face over and over in a drunken rage. Of James wiping frail tears of pain, after finding him after one very severe beating. After they'd left, he'd never let anyone touch his face, never.

He was still trembling, and he knew a cold shower wasn't going to ease the ache in his groin, and he didn't have many other options. With her locked away, and him responsible for June tonight, he couldn't even call one of the few prostitutes that could handle his rage, his need to rape and rend.

And that was when it hit him. He wasn't enraged, the thought of rape turned him off, and he was confused, aroused, and frustrated, but not enraged. The thought of another frail touching him turned his stomach. He didn't even think he'd be able to handle scent, especially the scents he normally inspired. Fear, anger, pain, none of those were on his top list of scents at the moment. Karen wasn't afraid, a little pissed off, and very aroused, but no pain, even after he threw her against the wall.

He jumped at a knock on the door. He let out a low growl, took a scent, and groaned, then went to answer it. He knew the scent, but when he opened the door, she was in normal skin and long blonde hair.

"Mystique, come in."

"You look a little out of sorts toni...what the hell is a high chair doing in your kitchen?" As soon as the door closed her skin flowed back to its normal blue scales, her hair to its normal red. The change paused halfway through as she spotted the high chair, then she composed herself and stood naked in front of him.

"Long story, short version is my daughter, June." He really didn't want to try to explain to his former...not even lover, but she'd born a child with his genetics, something neither of them were that proud of.

"Oh, I have to hear that long story now." She dropped onto the couch with a liquid grace. He just sat down in one of the chairs. She wasn't going to make this easy. Not after the way he'd reacted to her telling him about Graydon.

"You remember April?" He said finally. Better to get it over with, let her try to kill him, then get on with business after he'd ripped a few scales off.

"The coward normal you bought for convenience?" She asked. "The one you actually fucked for two years, while working for that piece of shit, Stryker?"

"Yeah, June's mine by her." He hoped she'd take that.

"Wait a minute, we had Graydon and you refused to have anything to do with, as you said, the abominable cub, and now some convenience fuck dies and your left with one, oh that's rich?" She started to laugh.

"Not exactly, she's still alive." That stopped the laughter and he could smell the anger. "She joined a convent and couldn't raise the baby."

The anger seethed, but she at least gave him a depreciatory smirk. "A nun? She chose to become a nun instead of being fucked by you or raising your kid? That is a good one."

He just shrugged.

"And you let her?" Her eyes were actually glowing with her rage.

He shrugged again.

"Damn Creed, you're getting soft." This time the laughter brought a snarl to his lips. He'd put up with a little bit of humor, for old times sake, but if she didn't quit, he was going to gut the bitch. He wasn't going to argue with her, not after what happened in the kitchen earlier.

The sudden cry from June's room made him jump to his feet. Her mocking laughter followed him as he picked up his daughter and changed her. He quickly changed her into another onesie, and actually holding her seemed to calm him as he carried her out to the kitchen and grabbed one of the bottles Karen left in the fridge.

"Damn, you're a pro." Her voice was mocking, but he heard a twinge of something else, regret maybe.

"Do you want the job or not?" He just glared at her around the door of the fridge.

She glared, but nodded.

"You'll meet us at the airport, Mort's piloting. You'll board the plane as me with June, Karen and Mort. I'll meet up with the plane in DC. You will deplane there, act like you have a meeting, then disappear, I'll come back to the plane and board."

"Two questions." Mystique said. "Why the elaborate switch? Who's Karen?"

"I have something last minute to take care of here, and Karen is..."

"Me." Shit, he was getting soft, she'd managed to sneak up on them while he was distracted. Her scent was still so strong in the kitchen that he'd not noticed it become fresh.

"You? You're not even high enough on the evolutionary ladder to be something I'd worry about stepping in." Mystique snapped, standing and walking over to where Karen stood, circling her, flicking her light brown hair over her shoulder. He sent a warning growl as she touched what belonged to him.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, her healing factor's at least as strong as mine." Victor said, toning down the growl so it didn't disturb June.

Mystique glared at both of them but nodded her head. "Healer, huh. Easy to hide and appear normal. At least this frail's not human." She walked back to the couch.

"Damn it Victor, you have to let her get a breath, I swear, you'd have killed her by now if I hadn't come along." He watched Mystique glower as Karen skillfully removed June from his arms and sat down in the chair to finish feeding her.

"I thought I told you to go to bed and lock your door." He growled back. June must have gotten used to it by now, she just kept sucking on the bottle, just rolled her eyes at him and smiled around the bottle nipple.

"Fuck you, Victor." Karen glared at him. He bit back a groan, she was really angry now. He hoped she'd understand, hoped she'd accept things, now he had an angry frail, and one he couldn't afford to kill, or lose.

"This is just too cute, Sabretooth playing house. Magneto will die when he hears this." The false sweetness in Mystique's voice was like fingernails on a chalk board.

"Shut up, bluebutt." Victor growled. "Are you in or not?"

"I'm in, I just hope I don't throw up from all the cuteness." She stood up, without a glance at his cub and mat...he stopped himself. He wasn't going to ever allow himself to think that word, he watched her morph back into the blonde as she walked to the door.

"Thursday, ten a.m." She said from the door, "I'll be there.

He closed his eyes. Karen seemed to have gotten a grip on whatever it was that hit her in the kitchen and he was trying to calm down. Her anger was still strong, but the musk was settled to a bearable level.

He looked over and watched Karen with June while she was looking down, and felt that strange warmth again. He needed to find out what it was, and why it was creeping into his chest. He'd never felt anything like it before, the closest he could come was pride, but it was more than that.

He was feeling something else, something he'd rarely felt, and he hated himself for feeling so damned frail and weak, guilt.

"I'm sorry." He wanted to kick himself but the words tumbled out anyway. He never apologized. It was fucking frail.

"For what?" She honestly looked and smelled puzzled.

"The kitchen...I was out of line."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She didn't look at him, she was looking at June. He wasn't going to let this go.

"Bullshit. You're here for June, not for me, and I was out of line." He felt the blood drain from his face as she looked up at him. He'd thought her reaction in the kitchen had made his blood boil, this froze it in place. The waves of pain rolling off her along with the coldness of her eyes made him realize he'd made a huge mistake.

"Fine, as I said I don't know what you're talking about. It never happened." She stood up and carried a now sleepy June toward the back of the penthouse. He wanted to follow her, but he couldn't think of a damned thing that wouldn't make this worse. He didn't know what he wanted, and he sure as hell wasn't going to try to interpret what a frail wanted.

He heard her door close, and this time when the lock clicked, it was like a knife in the gut. Tomorrow was going to be hell.


	13. Chapter 13

She woke to Victor pounding on her door.

"The attorney will be her in about thirty minutes." He shouted.

She heard June cry out from the next room and groaned. She hadn't slept much at all, and she was almost to the point of telling him where to shove this job slash marriage he was pushing her into.

She still didn't know what happened last night, and at this point wasn't about to bring it up again.

He pounded on the door again. "Either let me know you're awake, or I'm busting down this door."

"I'm up, shit." She shouted back.

"Get June ready to go out, we're gonna have to go in front of a judge since my idiot lawyer can't find a single corrupt one in all of New York City."

"I thought you said attendance was optional." She said as she opened the door.

"Shut up and get dressed." He growled. He turned and stormed down the hallway.

"Guess he's not a morning person, either." She grumbled under her breath. She looked at the pile of bags she still had to go through, and grabbed the first one. She could hear June revving up for a real screaming fit. The bag in her hand had a powder blue dress with matching shoes and stockings.

She was suddenly very grateful for Gary at Sak's, each outfit was bagged with its accessories, her morning just got easier. She decided to go with what was in hand. She put the dress on a hanger and just inside the bathroom door. She'd let the steam from her shower get out the wrinkles after she fed June.

She was glad the pajamas she'd bought were modest, and comfortable. She quickly changed June and laid out one of the new outfits to put her in after breakfast.

In the kitchen she grabbed one of the pre-made bottles and gave it a shake. Victor was in the living room watching the morning news.

"Here, you feed her if you're in such a rush. I need a shower." He glared at her but took the baby and the bottle from her.

"Just hurry the fuck up, if we don't get this done today we'll have to wait 'til Monday." He growled at her as she hurried to her room.

"I don't know what the big rush is, its not like we're leaving until Thursday, and its not like its real in the first place." She grumbled as she adjusted the water in the shower. At least the bed was comfortable and she had a private bathroom. "Five years around him and I'll be stark raving mad."

She stripped off the pajamas and closed the shower door. She stepped under the spray and let the hot water flow over her skin. She thought she managed to cover how hurt she'd been last night when he'd told her he'd made a mistake.

She knew she wasn't like these New York models you saw walking around everywhere, her chest was too big, her ass was too big, her skin wasn't perfect, and her shoulder length hair wasn't highlighted or colored. She was mousy, as Phillip's mother said.

"At least she has good hips, she can give you a couple children, and then you can go find a pretty mistress. We will have to make sure she wears a thick veil so none od your aunts or uncles can object before the vows." She'd overheard her tell Phillip during one planning session for the wedding. He'd defended her, and she'd been happy, but somehow the words hurt still. As much as his last night.

That was all she was ever good enough for, taking care of children. She loved it, and didn't mind, but Phillip had been the first person to see her for herself, not as the one with all the kids around. Her family had done it to her since she was small, all the 'adults' would drop off their kids, and leave her out of anything they were doing because she was watching the kids. She had one niece that was a year younger than her. In Karen's senior year of school, she'd had to miss Prom and graduation because her niece needed a babysitter those nights.

At least she knew where she stood. For a moment, last night, she'd thought he saw Karen, not June's nanny. Now she knew. She should probably thank him but right now it still stung. She quickly climbed out of the shower, and dressed in what, for all intents and purposes would be her wedding dress. She felt the sting of that too, but looked at herself in the mirror. Just once in her life she'd like to have some control of her wedding, at least to have that one special dress that was all hers.

"This is what you get for hiring a hit man to kill someone. Did you really think he'd fall in love with you and sweep you off your feet. Get back down to Earth, Karen. You're nothing more than a baby sitter, and that is all you are ever going to be. At least with this job you get to travel and see some of those places you've always wanted to go."

She straightened her skirt, squared her shoulders, and walked out of the bathroom. She had a handle on it now, as long as he didn't look at her like that again, like he wanted to devour her, as long as he didn't touch her again, like she was going to burn him, as long as she didn't look for anything for herself in her life, she could pretend it didn't hurt when he turned away.

The attorney was there with the paperwork. She was amazed at the stack, and contents. There was the marriage license, of course, and a pre-nuptial agreement that stated if they divorced at any time after the five year mark, that she would be entitled to half of any assets they held jointly, there were adoption papers for her to adopt June, as well as medical release forms, the forms for the buyout of her teaching contract, and her lease. There was even a resource protection agreement that made sure that if something happened to him or his assets, her assets were protected from seizure.

What shocked her the most were the wills, his left everything to her and June in trust, hers left the family farm to her eldest brother, her assets to her family, and any personal bequest she might want to leave to June.

"Why are you doing this?" She looked at him after signing everything.

"June needs a frail, I can't do it alone, so this was the best solution." He growled.

The attorney packed every thing except the marriage license and scurried out of the penthouse.

"Did you deliberately put the fidelity clauses in there?" She wasn't sure she was glad about them or not.

"Yes, I am territorial, I don't like ta share what's mine." He growled.

"And what if I decide I want a child of my own, as well as June?" She glared at him, the one obvious thing to her was the one she was the most upset about.

"There're labs and shit, we can make arrangements for that if you want." His snarl set June off, and Karen was focused on settling her down, and hoped he didn't see the hurt in her eyes. A lab? He despised her so much that his solution to her having a child was a lab. "We don't have time for your frail crap right now. I want to get this done and over with so I can concentrate on important shit."

She just nodded, and stood up to carry June to her room. She still had to get the baby dressed so they could get her wedding 'over with.' She hoped the dress she put June in was water proof. She now understood why people cried at weddings.

She set up the stroller after dressing June a blue denim dress and tights with matching shoes. She settled june in it and pushed it to the living room. She left it with him, and without a word walked to the kitchen and made a couple fresh bottles to put in the diaper bag. She didn't know how long they'd be gone.

"Do we have ta take this thing." He growled at the stroller.

"I'm not carrying her all the time, she likes the stroller, and it is New York, we're going to end up walking."

He just growled, but let her push the stroller out the door.

She waited in the elevator, and he stood silently next to her. She knew he didn't care, she was just a nanny, even if he was going through with this farce instead of an employment contract, but she wanted some answers, and express her feelings about this whole thing.

"This wasn't how I planned my wedding day." She said softly.

"I can't change it. Besides, its just til the cub's grown."

"I always thought marriage was til death do you part." She said as she pushed the stroller into the elevator. He stepped in behind her and the door closed.

"Never gave a shit about crap like this. Never had a frail that wanted enough to do with me to check it out." She stared at the door.

"They're going to make us have some kind of ceremony." She said softly.

"What do you want, Karen. I'm tryin' ta solve as many problems as I can at one time. This gives June a mother, you someone ta take care of, and I know you're both protected, because anyone who knows me knows better than to fuck with what's mine."

"I want a marriage, not a solution to a problem, I want..." She shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

She was surprised when he simply took her hand in his.

"I don't want..." He started, but the door opened and an older woman stepped onto the elevator.

"Hello." The woman said.

Victor grunted, and Karen felt like she had to smile to ease the brunt of his surliness.

"What a precious little one. You are so lucky." Karen muttered a quiet thank you, and tried to ignore her palm sweating in his hand.

They stepped out into the building lobby, and she took her hand from his to push the stroller. He walked out the door in front of her to hail a cab. He helped her into the cab, and handed her June while he collapsed the stroller and put it into the open trunk.

"The court house." He said as he climbed into the cab.


	14. Chapter 14

He could smell she was hurt. He hadn't considered that she might want more than his cub, or that she would want to have another cub with him. Suggesting the lab was the only thing he could think of to solve the problem, he thought it was a good idea, no risk of her getting hurt.

He hadn't slept much, when he did doze off his sleep was wracked with nightmares. Nightmares of being covered in her blood from head to toe, completely naked, her violated and eviscerated body at his feet, his claws at full length, his hands sticky, the copper taste in his mouth, and white splashes of semen dripping from his spent member.

Three years ago it wouldn't have been a nightmare, it would have been a hot erotic dream. But the changes in him, his disgust with Stryker, James abandoning him for good, April leaving him for a God he had no use for, an infant, part of him, so tiny and fragile, being his only reason to keep going. Now Karen, a mutation of unknown strength that could potentially rival his own, and he couldn't figure out how to connect, how to let her know that what he was doing for her, and June, but mostly to protect her.

She would just have to learn. He'd never passed up a free fuck, and here he was, about to swear his life to her, forsaking all others, to give up on one of his most effective means of terror and torture, rape, because it wasn't fair to ask her to give up everything if he didn't as well. He didn't know when the word fair entered into his mind when thinking about her, but he was going to hold himself to the same standards he expected her to strive for.

The cab ride was quiet. She held June, and seemed to concentrate on avoiding his gaze. From the outside she looked like a devoted mother, but he could smell the pain, and the tears she was fighting.

The court house was a jumble of people trying to get papers filed, and on the fifth floor, there was a long line of people trying to get in to see a judge. He took a number from a dispenser, and growled. This was not how he'd planned to spend his day.

"Glad I packed extra bottles." She said quietly. He was glad she'd insisted on the stroller, and a teething ring for June, the hallway was full of squalling cubs, his was quiet. He smiled at her and was surprised by that warm feeling again when she smiled back, revealing her new tooth.

Karen sat quietly on a bench while they waited. He just hoped the ring he'd pulled from the safe this morning would at least make up for some of what she was feeling. He had no idea what kind of ring she'd like, so he just grabbed something he'd bought because it appealed to him.

He wasn't sure why he was even giving a crap, but that damned feeling of guilt was keeping his stomach sour. He knew she was hurting, and angry and disappointed and it was his fault. They sat there quietly for what seemed like hours. Finally he felt he had to break the silence between them.

"I know this isn't exactly what you would have wanted." He said softly. "It's just the best solution I can come up with." It was the closest he could bring himself to apologizing in public.

"I don't want to talk about it." She whispered, and he winced. She really wasn't going to give him a break.

"I'm just trying..."

"Number Fifty Seven." Crap, why'd they have to speed up now? They stood and she pushed the stroller to the clerk's counter.

"Your license was issued yesterday?" The clerk said. "Don't you have a minister or friend who could do this?

"Yes, the person who was going to perform it was called out of town suddenly. We want to get the civil part done before we leave, next week." He said, Karen just nodded.

"Judge Lineman is the only judge on civil duty today. His office is down the hall and to the right. He's got a long line." Victor groaned. More waiting. He had more important shit to do today, like make it to the RFP meeting with Fisk Properties. He was going to have to call and reschedule, and if he lost this contract he wasn't going to be happy.

They followed the directions the clerk gave them and ended up sitting on a bench surrounded by couples, some actually dressed for a wedding. As he looked around he realized these people had one thing in common, they we're happy, nervous, and in one couple's case about to drop a cub on the floor. He really hoped they were next so her mate could get her to a hospital before she delivered. He wanted to laugh at the frail males in their tuxedos and ties.

"Just don't make any vows you won't keep." She whispered. He could smell her tears. What the hell did she mean by that?

"Karen, I'm making the same vows you do. Yeah, I'd planned this on paper, but now I'm having to make promises, and my word is everything. I never go back on it." He growled.

"So it's not on paper anymore?" She was getting angry, something he didn't understand. She was getting what she wanted...no she was getting what he wanted.

"Not if I've got to swear something. That changes things." He knew she wouldn't understand. Frails didn't understand his code, his sense of honor. He'd as soon kill you as look at you, unless he'd made a promise. Then he'd keep to the letter of that promise until it was done. That's why he put up with Toad, Mystique, and even Magneto, hell it was why he'd stayed with Stryker as long as he did. Even after his own blood betrayed him, he'd stayed. Even Jimmy didn't understand it completely. His word was everything.

Karen just turned back to the stroller. He looked at her a minute. The dress she was wearing showed off her figure perfectly. She was elegant and sexy at the same time. The dress was cut low enough that when she bent to pick up the diaper bag he had a really nice view of her assets. He was glad he had one of June's blankets in his lap, or she'd notice his reaction.

If she'd been a stripper he'd have tipped her a thousand bucks for that view...and then they'd have found her dead in the alley later after he finished with her. THAT was what he was protecting Karen from. Why couldn't she understand it? She knew what he was, she'd called him, hired him for a hit. She had to know he wasn't a nice person? She had to know his recreation involved blood and other bodily fluids until someone was dead? Didn't she?

He struggled with an impulse to put his arm around her and the cub, who was sitting in Karen's lap at the moment, chewing on Karen's fingers.

"I think she's got another tooth coming in." Karen said. He actually tried to put his finger in her mouth after retracting his claws painfully. The damned cub bit him, but he grinned at her, and he felt the small ridges coming through the gum.

There were several other couples with children and he tried to watch them without being obvious. These males were touching their females, and he could smell the watered down version of his own protective instincts. How did these males keep from hurting them. There had to be a way, but he didn't trust himself, not with Karen, his urges were getting stronger where she was concerned and he knew she'd be dead if he acted on them.

It was driving him mad. He could smell her, not her emotions but the scent that was Karen. She smelled like a field of sunflowers after a heavy rain, like clean air and fresh damp earth, fertile and wholesome. He wanted to have that scent on his bare skin, but he couldn't figure out how, or rather how to keep it there, because once would never be enough, and once would be all he would ever have. She would be dead, or leave him forever.

That was the other thing driving him mad. This was supposed to be about the cub, but the idea of her leaving was like a sharp blade in the center of his chest, and it had nothing to do with June. He didn't want her to leave HIM.

It was insane. He was a monster, not someone that could have a normal life with a mate and cubs, yet those were the dreams that had him waking up in the worst pain he'd ever felt, his pillow damp and salty with tears he'd never admit to shedding. The worst was when he'd woken up this morning, the feeling of her lips on his, the memory of his brief taste haunting him.

"Next." He looked around the hallway and realized people were looking at them

"I guess that's us." He stood up, somehow realizing that his dark shirt and slacks were very casual for the moment, he could have at least worn a suit.

She tucked June into the stroller, and he followed them into the judge's chambers.

"I hope you aren't too picky, I'm late for lunch with my wife." Judge Lineman said as they shut the door. There was a woman sitting in the room.

"Something simple is fine with us." Karen said, surprising Victor, he hadn't expected her to speak up.

"Did you bring witnesses?"

"No." Victor said.

"Okay, we're going to go for the short version then." The judge motioned them to stand in front of him, with Karen on Victor's right. "Do you have your own vows?"

"No." Karen said softly. Shit, somehow Victor had a feeling he was screwing something up, and didn't know what. The judge took the marriage license and read it, and wrote down the names on a post it note, and set the form on his desk.

"We are gathered here in the presence of this witness to join this man and this woman in matrimony. Do you, Victor Thomas Creed take this woman to have and to hold, forsaking all others, to keep, love and cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, in good times and bad, as long as you both shall live?"

"Uh..." She was glaring at him, and he knew she was getting angry. "Sorry had to think a second. Yes."

"Do you Karen Dolores Green take this man to have and to hold, forsaking all others, to keep, love and cherish him in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, in good times and bad, for as long as you both shall live."

"Uh..." She paused, and then to his shock winked at him. "Yes."

"Is there a ring?"

"Yes." Victor pulled the ring out of his pocket. He was surprised by the tears in her eyes as he slipped it on her finger, it wasn't fancy, not even a diamond, and somehow he knew he'd screwed up again. It was a little big, but sizing wasn't an issue, he knew a dozen jewelers, and if push came to shove, he'd have magnet head do it.

"With this exchange of a ring and by the powers vested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Victor was at a total loss. Kiss the bride? Was that really necessary? She glared at him and he knew somehow this was a deal breaker. He leaned down, to brush his lips across her cheek, but found something softer under his. He felt a ragged moan escape his lips as something inside him that had been suppressed a long time suddenly sprang free. His arms slipped around her, his lips moved over hers, his tongue tracing them until she moaned softly and then began to return his efforts. Her mouth tasted sweet, her soft lips became demanding of his response, and his hands gripped her hips, pressing her against his him, letting her know how she affected him.

It was the judge clearing his throat that made him let her go.

"Congratulations." Karen was blushing, breathless and had that heady musk scent that drove him insane. Victor ushered them out of the office, the blanket dangling in front of him, and to the elevators. Judge Lineman caught them at the elevator.

"You might need this." He handed Victor the signed marriage license. "If you hurry you can file it before the clerk goes to lunch.

"Thank you." Victor said as the door closed.


	15. Chapter 15

He opened the door for her as she pushed the stroller with a sleeping June into the penthouse. Karen was tired after the morning, and to her surprise the penthouse wasn't empty.

"Ah, Mr. Creed. The delivery service mixed up the order again there's baby..." An older woman in a maid's uniform stepped out of the kitchen as they came in the door. "Maybe not?"

"Fran, this is Karen, and this is June." He said as he gently picked up June and let her rest on his shoulder. He carried her gently back to her room and left Karen to face the intruder.

"Hello." Karen said.

"Hello, I only come in about once a month to cook for Mr. Creed." Fran said as she moved back into the kitchen. Karen followed her. "I had no idea he had a lady friend other than the shape shifter."

"I'm not sure you could call me a lady friend I'm just..." she started.

"My wife." Victor finished for her. She'd been about to say part the nanny.

"Wife?" Fran said looking at Victor.

"We just got back from the court house, actually."

"Then the baby's yours?" Fran said, and Karen felt the disapproval across the room.

"No, June's mine. I met Karen when she offered to help me get June settled." Victor said. Karen felt like she could just sink through the floor. Wouldn't that be a great mutation?

"Yours?"

"It's a long story, Fran." He said, and walked into his office.

The cook looked at Karen, and frowned. Karen walked into the kitchen and saw the groceries sitting on the island. She watched Fran putting things away, tossing the things Karen had ordered in a corner.

"What's that for?"

"Those will have to go back. Mr. Creed doesn't like any spicing in his food."

"Well Mr. Creed won't be the only one eating."

"I work for Mr. Creed." Fran said.

"Actually, this is the next month and a half pay, Fran. We're going to Europe for a while, so we won't need you until we get back." He handed her an envelope. Karen wanted to strangle him. She felt bad enough after the 'wedding', even after that damned kiss in the Judge's office. She still didn't know where the hell that came from.

"Mr. Creed. I still haven't cooked for this week."

"I know, but Karen and I will be getting ready for the trip, and will probably eat out the rest of the week."

"So I should send all this back?"

"We'll take care of it. Go home and play with the grandkids for a month or so." He eased her out of the kitchen and helped her into her coat.

Karen watched, and silently thanked him. The woman was getting on her last nerve.

"Sorry about that, she's a little protective. She's been cooking for me for about eleven years."

"Eleven...you're not that old." she said.

"Darlin, I'm a hell of a lot older than you think." he grinned.

"So how old are you?" She asked, he didn't look more than thirty. Eleven years would have put her starting to cook for him at nineteen.

"One hundred and seventy, in three weeks." He said. His expression wasn't giving anything away. She looked at him in disbelief. 

"You have to be kidding?"

"No, Darlin, I was born in eighteen thirty."

She just blinked a moment. Suddenly that explained a lot.

He was leaning on the island, just watching her. She just looked at him. Is that what was going to happen to her? If she healed, would she end up old and everyone around her that she loved was gone. Was that it, he didn't want to get attached. He didn't want to risk being hurt?

"I don't know." He said.

"Don't know what?"

"If this is what will happen to you. We need to find out more about your mutation first."

"HOW did you do that?" This time she just glared at him. If he was a telepath she was going to kill him.

"No, I'm not a 'path. It's scent. I learned to interpret emotions based on hormone and pheromone changes. Some thoughts are just obvious based on the conversation and your facial expressions." This time he was grinning at her. "Adding in enhances senses, all of them. Hearing...lets just say I'm not as big an asshole as you seem to think, and my parents were married, much to my mother's dismay, and bad luck, so bastard doesn't work either. Arrogant...egotistical, I'll admit to those."

"YOU!" She was now livid. He'd heard everything she'd said about him. Damn it. She had no privacy at all.

"The good news is, my room is soundproofed, so I can't hear you if the door's closed."

She let out a growl that would do him proud. "So that's it. You have nothing else to say. What the hell happened today?"

"I thought you didn't want to talk about it?" He snarled back.

"Ohhhhhhhh." She screamed. He suddenly had her backed against the fridge again.

"Do that again." She couldn't tell if he was angry or something else. And then he leaned in and kissed her. It wasn't like the other, this was more like he was exploring her, not trying to devour her, and she responded in kind. His mouth was not as harsh and demanding, and even his fangs were sensual against her lips. He pulled back, his breathing ragged and she felt a sense of satisfaction.

"Now I've got to go to a meeting, I'll be back for dinner...wifey."

He grabbed a briefcase she'd not noticed near his feet and left. She just stood there...then smiled. He'd actually told her something about him. It still wasn't much, but he'd let her in enough to actually tell her something.

She went through the groceries and put things away. She had some nice cuts of meat and decided to make steaks. She put out a couple of fresh potatoes on the counter to bake, and enough salad ingredients to make her a side salad. She heard a slight whimper from June's room and went to check on her.

"You know what, little June Bug, your father is a pain in the ass. One of these days he's going to really push me too far and then I'm going to let him have it." She said, smiling as she changed the wet diaper. June cooed and smiled at her, waving her fists, and laughing. Karen smiled at her, and picked her up and carried her to the kitchen.

"Lets see if we can find something that will fill that belly for more than thirty minutes." Karen said as she settled June into the new high-chair. She watched her carefully, as she mixed cereal and formula in the feeder. She lifted her out of the chair, she didn't want to leave her sitting up for too long, she was starting to try to do it on her own, and Karen loved watching her.

She sat down in the chair in the living room, and gave her the nipple on the feeder. At first she tried pushing it out, but quickly adapted and drained the feeder, and with a loud, contented burp without help. Karen laughed, and June gave her a big grin. She sat and played with June until she started to get sleepy. Then realized she was hungry.

She fixed a quick sandwich, now that she had the ability to do so, and turned on the television to relax while June slept.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N I know I've been switching POV but for this particular chapter you get a double dose of Karen.

XXXXXXXXXX

She sat in the kitchen chair, the room dark. June was sound asleep for the night after her first taste of baby food, and the table was set for dinner. She'd finally given up and eaten her dinner almost three hours ago, but his plate was still sitting there.

It had been a little after one when he left, saying he'd be home for dinner. She'd fixed the nice steaks, potatoes and a salad for herself. She'd fed June and spent some time playing with her, before putting her down after her evening bottle. She looked at the clock on the wall. Eleven thirty, she didn't even know why she was still sitting up.

She heard the key in the lock, and waited. She was disappointed, and knew she probably didn't have any right to say anything to him, but he'd told her he'd be back for dinner and she'd taken him at his word.

"Karen, just give me a minute to explain, I could smell you from the elevator." She heard the briefcase drop on the floor, and knew something was wrong. He turned up the lighting and walked into the kitchen. His shirt was ripped, and blood soaked. "It's mine, before you start yelling."

"Are you alright?" She rushed over to him but stopped. "You smell like a distillery!"

"It's a long fucking story. Can I at least get a shower, and then I'll explain."

"YOU don't owe me anything." She could feel the tears in her eyes. "Just do what you want."

"Damn it, Frail, I just want ta get clean first. SHIT!" She turned to walk down the hallway to her bedroom. "Karen, wait."

"Don't worry about me." She slammed her bedroom door and locked it.

"FUCK! I have had all of this shit I'm going to take." He roared. She was surprised June didn't wake up. She heard him outside her door. "Open this fucking door, if not I'm going to fucking kick it down."

"I told you, you don't owe me anything." She said. She just wanted him to leave her alone. He'd reminded her again, even after that kiss in the kitchen, she was just the help, and he had no obligation to let her know if he was okay, or even wasn't going to make it back for dinner.

"Karen, open the door." She heard the growl in his voice. She heard his foot hit the door. "I swear I'll kick it in." She heard another blow against the door, and this time it shuddered.

"Victor, I'm tired, I just want to sleep. If it's that important we can talk in the morning. I'm not…" The door landed on the floor. He was standing there, his shredded shirt hanging off his shoulders, his chest heaving, eyes solid black, and his claws digging into the wood of the door jam.

"I am NOT in the mood to play chase. I am NOT in the mood to have to kick in a door to get to you. I'm really not in the mood your frail crap." He crossed the room and picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"You are NOT locking me out of a room again." He roared as he carried her across the hall and threw her down on the bed in his room. "THIS is where you belong, woman, so get that through your head now. And you better not MOVE unless the cub is screaming, until I get out of the shower."

"Victor…" She started.

"NOT A FUCKING WORD! STAY!"

She started to stand and he pounced from the door where he'd thrown her. "If I have to tie you down I will. I'm not in the mood for this."

"I really don't care, you pig." She slapped him, something; she later realized was probably the wrong thing to do.

"Alright…I'm done. I've been punched, kicked, slapped, beaten with a cane, cut, and THEN dragged to a bar with someone who actually got my head straight, and now I have to fight you. I'm done. YOU will NOT move." He stood up, leaving her on the bed. He grabbed two ties from his closet and tied her ankles and wrists together, hands behind her back. He grabbed another tie, and tied her hand bonds to the headboard of the bed.

"If the cub screams, I'll get the fuck out of the shower." He growled. He then wadded up a fourth tie and stuffed it in her mouth. "Now, you'll listen instead of spout shit."

She glared at him, and then closed her eyes. He was stripping. She opened them again. It was like a train wreck, one that sent wonderful shivers down her back and nice warmth in her gut. His chest was covered in blood, but she could see he wasn't physically hurt. He caught her watching, and gave her a look, and then a slow grin, his fangs flashing, as he slowly unfastened his belt. She watched as his hands pulled the belt through the loops slowly, her body warming even more, as she enjoyed the show.

He crawled up onto the bed, and leaned down and brushed his lips across her forehead, then unfastened his slacks, she could see blood drying in the fabric but she was distracted by his chest and stomach above the waistband, and her eyes followed the trail of hair, past his navel, to where his hands were unhooking the waistband, then slowly lowering the zipper, revealing more skin with the dusting of hair, and the waistband of his boxers. She moaned through the gag in her mouth as he slipped the pants down over his hips, revealing a pair of black silk boxers, and she could see the bulge in them thickening as she watched.

He pulled back, and dropped his pants to the floor, and her eyes trailed down his legs, sculpted muscle like every other part of him, but her eyes were drawn back to the black silk, and the growing bulge.

"We'll continue, after my shower." He growled, but this time she could feel an undercurrent that had her wanting to pant, but the gag prevented her. She heard him open his bathroom door. The shower turned on, and she heard him moaning under the hot water.

"Darlin, don't think I'm not plannin' on continuing where we left off…but not until we talk." She heard him moan again. "I'd rather your mouth, but I'm not gonna try ta talk to you with this…" Another deeper groan and she could actually hear the sound of flesh stroking flesh. "Oh yeah…much rather your mouth, I can imagine your teeth scraping against me, your tongue teasing me, your lips flowing over my cock…" She heard a louder groan, and some heavy breathing, and then "Damn, Karen." He finally roared, and she blushed.

She heard the towel ripped off the rack, the water shut off, and the sharp cry from June's room.

"Shit, I hoped the cub wouldn't hear that." He grumbled as he walked out of the bathroom. She got a fantastic view of his ass as he crossed the room to check on June. She heard him speaking softly to the baby, and he carried her into the room, the blanket she was wrapped in blocking Karen's view of his body. She let out a low moan.

"Not yet, Darlin…" He set June against her stomach, and turned quickly to open a drawer of his dresser. He pulled out another pair of boxers and he slipped them on. She cursed her luck. She had no idea what he wanted to talk about, but at this point if it didn't involve sex, she was going to find something to hit him with.

He pulled a robe over his shoulders, and turned to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Now, I'm gonna explain what happened today, and then I'm gonna untie you so you can take care of the cub and get her to sleep. After that, we'll decide what happens, based on how you feel about what I need ta tell you."

She was surprised at how calm he was. She just nodded, suddenly more curious than disappointed or angry.

"I went over to Fisk Properties to go over an RFP I'd submitted for a retirement product for their employees. After the meeting I was heading home, when this asshole in a red leather outfit decided he didn't like me walking out of Fisk Properties. He started a fight, and it took me about twenty minutes to figure out it was someone I know. Anyway, Matt took off his mask, and we started talking."

She just nodded, letting him know she was listening.

"Anyway, Matt decided we needed ta discuss things over drinks. As we were talkin' well, Matt's really a decent friend, and knows a hell of a lot more about frails than I do, so I told him about some of the issues I've been having."

She glared at him. Issues? She was an issue?

"NO! damn it, It's my issue. Shit." She nodded. "I don't know how ta do this."

She knew her eyes were screaming 'What?'

He growled, but reached over and untied her gag and pulled the tie out of her mouth.

"I've never…I don't know how to deal with frails except by force." She licked her dry lips. "I've only ever had one frail that wasn't dead by the time I was done with her, and that was Myst."

"The…shapeshifter?"

"Yeah, it was years ago, we had a cub, but I never had anything ta do with it." She was getting angry again. He'd have a child with the woman that he wanted her to get on an airplane with, but he would go to a lab if she wanted one.

"Damn it, Karen, what I'm tryin ta tell you, is I want to try…I don't know if your mutation is strong enough, I don't know if I can control my years of reacting to certain things with violence. Karen, I don't want to hurt you. I want nothing more than to try having sex with you, but I don't want it to be painful for you."

"Victor…"

"Don't say anything, just think about it. Take care of June, but think about it. I guess I give a shit enough ta marry you, I give a shit enough that I don't want you hurt, and I'd do anything ta protect you from harm. Hell, I worry more about you than June, June has you now, and I know she'll be well taken care of."

"Victor…"

"I'm gonna untie ya now." She felt his hands on her ankles, the sweats she'd put on after putting June to bed had ridden up exposing her ankles and lower calves. His claws scraped gently over that little bit of skin and she moaned.

"I didn't hurt ya?"

"No, Victor." She said softly.

He untied her wrists, and she sat up slowly, balancing June as she turned to look at him.

"I'll get out of the…" She stopped him with her lips. She felt him moan against her, and she deepened the kiss. There was no way in hell she was going to let him think she wasn't interested. Damn him, he had to be the sexiest cold blooded killer she'd ever met, but somehow that part didn't bother her.

She pulled away slowly, and he looked stunned. "Let me get June to bed, and we'll pick up where that left off." She whispered.

"Karen, you need to think things…" She stopped him again, this time; his hands were tangled in her hair as she pulled away.

"Victor, shut up, I just hope you're up for this."


	17. Chapter 17

A/N To desy - yes but to Victor that wasn't sex. There was not any mental involvement for him, so he frankly doesn't count it. All he used April for was the physical release after capturing a female mutant that Stryker wouldn't let him rape.

To dragonoffire3, TheRYU, Jinx...you've all got at least one more chapter for lemonaide. We get one more of exactly what Victor was thinking, and what Matt Murdock said to him to make this all possible in Victor's mind.

and on that note...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Victor stood in the door of the nursery and watched Karen rocking June in the chair with a bottle. He now had a name for that warmth he felt, he just wasn't sure if Maddock got it right. Karen looked up at him and gave him a smile full of promise and he could feel his body ready to respond.

"You should go eat, your dinner's still on the table. It's going to take a little bit to settle June Bug, and I would really like to get a quick shower." He let out a low growl.

"I like the way you smell right now, baby." He could hear his voice rumble and grinned at the answering response from her body. That was how a woman should smell, hot and sexy and ready to please her mate. He smiled at the word now.

"Well I feel all sweaty and grimy and I'd rather be clean...later." She gave him that smile again, and he just nodded. If she wanted him to eat, he'd eat. He was hungry anyway, and the food had smelled terrific when he got off the elevator.

He took the plate from the table and popped it in the microwave. He could smell the blood in the steak so he knew it wouldn't over cook that much. He waited, leaning on the counter and thought about what Matt said in the bar after the fight.

_"Victor you're a fucking idiot. I've known you for years, hell I've defended you a few times, but this time you're on your own."_

_"Matt, I just...I don't know what to do." He glanced down at the glass half full of whatever the strongest stuff they had was. It was working, his head was slightly buzzing._

_"Victor, you cannot tell me in your one hundred and seventy years you have never made love to a woman." Matt wasn't drinking what Victor was, but his words were starting to slur._

_"I can and I will. There's been only one woman who came willingly to my bed, and she liked things rough. Then there was the kid that's June's mother, but that was just physical relief, not even really a fuck."_

_"In over a century, you've had sex twice?" Matt looked at him like he was crazy._

_"No, just not willing sex..."_

_"I can't hear this, I'm your attorney."_

_"Matt, you handle my criminal crap. Besides you're on retainer and we have client-attorney confidentiality."_

_"Hell...might as well listen. You have worse luck with women than I do." Matt signaled the bartender to bring them another round._

_"Usually sex is part of work, well rape anyway, either to scare the shit out of the mark by taking his frail in front of him, or if the mark is a frail, fucking her world before killing her."_

_"Lalalalalalala not listening." Matt said, half covering his ears. "Just tell me you're not planning on killing anyone. Right now this is all in the past and we can deal with that, legally later."_

_"Dumb ass..." Victor grumbled good-naturedly. He liked Matt. He had no idea he was the idiot that ran around Hell's Kitchen in red leather tights, but hey whatever floated his boat. "Anyway, Karen, well she's different."_

_"How? She's female right?"_

_"Yeah but...well this is the weird part, at least for me...I don't want to hurt her. Hell, smelling pain from her is painful for me. And trust me the last two days have been hell."_

_"What'd you do?_

_"Fucked up the wedding for one..." Victor started._

_"Wedding? You're MARRIED!" Matt glared at the drink in his hand, and signaled the bartender for a double. "Fuck. The world is coming to an end."_

_"Ha ha." Victor snarled. "You gonna keep laughing, or do you want to go back outside."_

_"Considering you were losing...I'd rather hear the rest of this."_

_Victor took a deep breath. "She hired me for a project...not a word Matt...and told me if I needed help with the kid to call her. Well June was keeping me up...screaming, wouldn't sleep."_

_"Wait, kid?"_

_"June, my cub, can we get back to the subject now."_

_"YOU have a KID!"_

_"Matt."_

_"Right, sorry, I'll think about the horror of that later."_

_Victor growled, but continued. "Anyway I called her, had to offer to do the project for half price if she'd come to see what was wrong with June. She took care of it and I got the first full night's sleep since April dropped the cub on my doorstep. Anyway I decided I was keeping her, for the cub, but she kept...well she was in this pencil skirt and every time she bent over for anything, I wanted to grab that ass."_

_"Victor, grabbing her ass is a bad idea, you know that right?"_

_"I know, that's why I didn't. I didn't want to fuck things up with June. So I offered to do her project if she'd be June's nanny...well that lasted all of one hour, and then I got the brilliant idea of marriage. She'd be June's mother, with adoption papers, that way if anything went wrong with me, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone taking the cub away...it was just gonna be on paper, until Leibwitz screwed up."_

_"Leibwitz is a good corporate attorney, not a family law attorney, but good corporate. I don't know how he would have screwed up?" Matt said._

_"He couldn't find a damned judge to just sign off on shit. I had to go down to the court house, find a judge that would do the ceremony, and actually make the damned promises."_

_"Ouch...yeah that's big for you."_

_"So anyway, now I'm sworn off one of my most effective techniques at work, and I can't even fuck my wife without hurting her, and I don't want to hurt her." Victor growled._

_"Here's a news flash, big guy, don't."_

_"I'm not going without sex for the next two hundred years."_

_"She's not gonna live that long, is she?"_

_"She's got a healing factor, and I think its as strong as mine." Victor said, hanging his head._

_"Shit, you're screwed...rather not screwed." Matt swallowed his drink._

_"Fuck you."_

_"Sorry, you're not my type." _

_"And then there's this strange feeling I get when I see her, especially with the damned cub."_

_"What feeling?"_

_"All warm in the center of my chest."_

_"Whoa...you're all warm and fuzzy and don't want to hurt her, don't like the scent of her pain...am I getting this right?_

_"Yeah."_

_"Fuck, Creed. You ever hear of a word called love?"_

_"NO!"_

_"Well learn it, cuz you're in it."_

_"Like Hell, that's frail shit."_

_"Victor...what the hell does your body want?"_

_"What?_

_"I'm sure when you...use a woman without her consent...you feel a certain way, physically, is it the same with her?"_

_"Hell no, I actually kissed Karen."_

_"So, you want to kiss her, what else?"_

_"I held her hand in the elevator, and yeah I want to fuck her brains out, so don't ask. I just can't do that without hurting her."_

_"Why not?"_

_"What?"_

_"Why not?"_

_"Because I'm me, that's what I do."_

_"Victor, did she kiss you back?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Okay, so she'll let you know if you do something she doesn't like, or that hurts. You might sleep on the couch for a while, but you'll know what NOT to do." Matt said, downing another drink. "Women are like that, they let you know. If your body is telling you things you're not familiar with, follow it. I guess, with the animal mutation you've got, you will have to be careful with the claws, but that's the only major issue I see."_

_"She'll let me know?"_

_"Yeah, watch her signals. Her eyes, her mouth, for you her scent. If she's hot and bothered by something you're doing, you're doing it right."_

_They drank one more round, and Victor thought over what Matt said. He was about to order another when he looked up at the clock. It was ten forty-five...and he'd promised to be home for dinner._

_"SHIT!" He threw down a couple hundreds to pay for the drinks._

_"What?" Matt asked._

_"I promised to be home for dinner."_

_"Oh you're so fucked." Matt just grinned as Victor ran from the bar._

He finished his plate and rinsed it and dropped it into the dishwasher. He heard the shower cut off, and padded silently down the hallway. She was wrapped in a silk robe, her reddish brown hair barely damp on the tips, and he could still smell her.

"We're going to have to get that door fixed." She said, impishly as he stepped over it.

"I'll call a contractor on Monday." She walked over to him and he slipped an arm around her waist to pull her closer.

"Are you sure..." He stopped, her lips pressed against his.

"Shut up. Talk time is over." She whispered as she started to bring her fingers up to his cheek. He caught her hand with his free one. 

"One thing, I don't like having my face touched." he whispered.

"I'll remember that." She whispered back. He picked her up, and carried her to his room. He kicked the door shut.

"Now June won't be able to hear us." He grinned.

"How are we going to hear her?"

He pointed to a small device on the nightstand. She just smiled as he settled her in the middle of the bed. He leaned down to kiss her, and decided to just take things one thing at a time.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N Here's the lemons...well I prefer to make lemonade...just have to throw some laughter in there somewhere.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

He reached out to untie her robe, his hand actually trembling. She put hers over it, easing the tie loose to expose the negligee underneath.

"Karen, you're killing me here." He breathed, and he smiled. Somehow she knew he liked her choice. The satin was red, with black lace cut-outs, and she could feel the stiff lace against her sensitive skin, as he gently traced one breast with the claw of his forefinger.

"Why do you say that?" She whispered, her breath catching in her throat as he traced the hem of the plunging neckline of the gown, the backs of his claws like warm steel brushing gently against her skin.

"I can't think..." He rumbled as his mouth captured hers. Her hands pressed against his bare chest as she pushed his robe back. He froze, and she felt a deep rumbling growl.

"Victor, I want to touch you." She whispered. His hand moved to press hers against his bare skin.

"I wasn't sayin no. It feels good." That deep rumbling growl happened again, and she realized what the sound was. He was purring, she'd never heard anything like it. She smiled and kissed him again. He moved his hand back to brushing her skin, and she pushed his robe back further, her fingers lightly brushing his nipples.

He hissed a moment in surprise, then let out another rumbling purr as her fingers twisted gently into the dusting of hair across his chest, and started tracing the line down to his navel, and the tie of his robe.

She was pushed back as he jumped up and shed the robe. She sat up and dropped hers off her shoulders. He moaned as she dropped it on the floor next to the bed. He groaned louder as she pulled the gown off over her head, leaving her uncovered except the slight wisp of a thong.

"Give me strength." He moaned as she sat on the side of the bed.

"What?"

"Right now I really just want ta throw you down, but I'm tryin ta keep things...". He growled, and it definitely wasn't a purr.

"Victor, let's stick to what we know you're good at."

"What's that?" He honestly looked confused. She leaned up, her lips brushing his.

"Kissing, for starters."

His hands tangled in her hair, hid claws lightly scraping her scalp and she moaned deeply. She'd never been able to get Phillip to understand that she needed some aggression. She felt him easing her back onto the bed and she moaned as he took control.

She didn't complain when she felt him cut the sides of her thong and toss the fabric with the rest of her clothes on the floor. She was careful to keep her hands away from his face, as tempting as that was, there was more than enough skin for her to touch.

She felt his claws scrape down her belly, and she suddenly wanted to cover up again. She'd never been able to get rid of the stretch marks. His hand trembled, and she felt the claws start to dig in for just a second, like a cat kneading before going to sleep, before his lips left hers, and trailed down her neck.

She felt his fangs scrape down her neck, and felt him trembling, his jaw putting on pressure, as if to bite her, before moving down to her chest, then down where his claws were tracing the uneven lines in her stomach. He looked at her as his tongue traced them, capturing her eyes with his. She couldn't look away from him kicking and kissing each one, even the tiniest.

She moaned, his mouth working wonders for her self image.

"Badges of honor, proof you've carried a cub." His explanation healed something deep inside, something she'd been afraid of, afraid she wouldn't compare to the women she was sure had thrown themselves at a man like him. She was confused, though about the healing.

"But if I have a healing..."

"I've seen it in healers before, for the first few months, the healing shuts off, it only kicks back in right before birth, it keeps the body from rejecting the fetus as an infection."

She was surprised that he knew an answer, much less that he knew other female healers. If he did, why did he want her? He had to have seen others, ones who had perfect skin and were closer to what he was? She felt his claws dig in, almost breaking skin.

"You're mine." It was whispered a against her stomach, then he moved, dropping his boxers to the floor before covering her body with his. She'd seen enough to understand why he didn't want to hurt her. She was glad Phillip hadn't been small, or she might really have been intimidated.

"Karen, are you okay?" He whispered against her ear, she just smiled and nodded, a little twinge of fear could be a good thing, especially as he eased into her, her body trembling and welcoming. She bit her lip to keep from exploding in an orgasm, not wanting to disappoint him.

"I smell blood.". He sounded almost panicked.

"I just bit my lip, it's ok." She whispered as his hips thrust deep against her, and she cried out in pleasure and slight pain.

"Karen!" He moaned and tried to pull back but she wrapped her legs around his thighs and dug her nails into his ass, forcing him to thrust deep again. He seemed to get the idea, as he began to move, slowly, but with increasing speed as whimpers escaped her lips, her breath ragged in her lungs, and she couldn't stop the orgasmic explosion this tine if she wanted to.

"Victor!" It was a panting scream, and she somewhat registered his growl of surprise. She trembled, unable to stop, mostly because he'd not stopped moving and was pushing her to a second orgasm, stronger than the first. "VICTOR!"

This time she didn't miss his roar, her name ringing in her ears as she trembled a third time, more an after shock, than an actual explosion. Two in one session, damn she'd needed that.

"What the hell was that?" He said raggedly as he separated their bodies and dropped onto his back on the bed.

"What?" She lay there panting, her body still trembling in aftershocks. She had absolutely no desire to move.

"THAT! That thing you did...that?" He waved his hand in the air, and she giggled.

"It's called an orgasm, dumbass."

"No shit! I meant what you did, I know what it feels like when I cum."

"Victor, I came twice, and thank you, I really needed that." Her breath was becoming steadier, but by no means ready to move.

"Frails can CUM!" Her laughter stole what breath she had, she just laid there too tired to laugh and unable to stop.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N and now back to the plot...

XXXXXXX

She was still chuckling the next morning. He'd had to prove it, over and over. He was still flabbergasted, when had that evolved?

"You can quit laughing now." He grumbled as she fed June her cereal. She just didn't know when to quit.

"Sorry, but it was so cute." She giggled again.

"Frail!" She just looked over the table at him with lust filled eyes and he gave up. She was fucking wearing him out. Four times, for him, last night, twice this morning, and if she didn't quit with the damned looks June was gonna get an eyefull on the dining room table. He'd lost count of how many times she'd screamed his name loud enough to make the windows rattle.

"Victor, there's something I need to do today." He smelled sadness and a little trepidation.

"What?" He had an idea, he'd seen the news last night in the bar. The funeral for the three kids was today. He'd already made his plans to escort her.

"The funerals are.."

"I know, already made plans." He said simply. "Gonna have ta take June."

"Thank you."

"Karen, I think we've proven this ain't on paper so quit with the thank yous, it's my job as your mate to anticipate things like this and make arrangements for your safety." He knew that was as close as he was ready to go to that frail shit Matt was talking about.

She gave him that fuck me smile again and he felt the low rumble from last night in the back of his throat. Damned frail had him purring, and liking it. How the fuck had this gotten out of control this fast?

"Tell me you bought a black dress." He grumbled.

"Yes. I even got June one."

"Good, we can go to the funeral this morning, go to lunch, come back here to change, and then we've got dinner plans with a friend of mine."

"We do?"

"Yeah, need ta talk some business, and he's really interested in meeting you, and the cub."

"What kind of business?"

"Not what you're thinking. Mutant stuff." Erik Lensher was one of the few men who'd earned Victor's respect, and if he was willing to pay for dinner to meet Karen, well Victor rarely turned down free food.

"So who are we...?" His head snapped up. What the fuck was April doing here? The doorbell rang and he sprang to his feet.

"Victor." She looked even smaller than he remembered.

"I thought you took a vow of silence or something?" He growled. She was standing there in a long black robe and habit, he could tell, by the way it was laying she'd shaved her hair off.

"Only for the week prior to my vows, for contemplation." She smelled terrified, and he had to give her credit for guts, coming here like this.

He stepped back, and she slowly entered the penthouse. He watched as she glanced around, then caught sight of Karen and June in the dining room.

"Oh." She breathed. Her eyes were locked on his cub. "She's grown."

"That's what they do." He grumbled. "What do you want?" He knew he could be charming when he wanted, but April just rubbed him the wrong way, mostly because he felt guilty.

"These were delivered to the cloister, I wanted to deliver them in person." She handed him a stack of papers she'd hidden in her robe. He glanced at them. They were the revocation of parental rights papers for Karen's adoption of June. He felt that ugly feeling of guilt in his gut grow stronger.

Karen stood, and lifted June out of her chair. She walked over. "You must be April."

"Sister Mary Elizabeth, now." Victor bit back a growl as Karen handed June to her mother. "Oh, she's so much heavier."

"And has two teeth." Karen said with a smile.

"I had hoped Victor would take care of her, but I understand the adoption. His lifestyle doesn't leave much room for a baby." April said, handing June back to Karen.

"Karen's my wife." He growled. He smelled her start of surprise, and then strangely, joy.

"Then she is in the best hands. I just wanted to see her, and make sure she was well." April turned to leave.

"Sister, please, come and visit when you can." Karen said, and this time he didn't bite back the growl. Karen just gave him that look, the one that said he was fucking up royally. "If you call in advance, I'll send Victor to find something to play with, so we can visit."

He smelled tears from April, and suddenly understood. Karen knew, what he just realized. April hadn't wanted to give June up, she'd decided to do it to give June a better life than she'd had. Karen was right. She was still June's mother, and even after giving up her rights, Victor didn't want to cut her out completely.

"Any time, April, and I'll get out of the way." He scented surprise from Karen and thought he might have scored some brownie points for that one.

April left, and he walked into his office to drop off the papers. The adoption should go smoothly, now.

The girls were dressed and ready to go, and he had a secure limo downstairs. Mort was keeping an eye on the dealer on ice, so he didn't anticipate any problems there, but the gang he was dealing for might cause an issue.

The ride to the funeral was fine until they got closer to the church. Evidently the police were expecting problems, they had roadblocks up and were checking IDs. Victor hoped that at least Karen was on some approved list, or she was going to be upset, and he didn't want his frail upset.

They reached the checkpoint and Victor handed their IDs out the window.

"Miss Green, you're approved, but Mr. Creed isn't on the list." The officer said.

"We were married yesterday, and I don't want to leave the baby in the car, or in this crowd." She said over him to the officer. The officer got on his radio and they were cleared to proceed.

The old church was crowded, but they were able to find a seat. Today he'd insisted on the baby carrier, if they needed a fast escape, he wanted to be able to grab them both and run.

He smelled the tears, as she noticed the three small coffins at the front of the church, and he growled low. He didn't like his mate weeping over someone else's cubs. He understood that she taught them, but she had his cub now.

He put an arm behind her along the back of the pew, and she curled into his chest. He handed her a burp rag from the diaper bag for her eyes and nose. He didn't normally carry handkerchiefs. Her hand soon rested on his thigh as the service began and he did his best to keep from nodding off.

He never understood funerals, just stick the dead mat in the ground, it wasn't like the thing that made a person a person was still there.

He was just about to nod off again when a disturbance drew his attention. He was right, the gang was trying to get in.

"...not like they were human anyway, fucking muties!" He heard one of the gang members say.

"You're not on the list." The officer at the door said, trying to keep the five or six gang members outside.

Victor stood, and Karen looked at him, he could smell her confusion. He put June's carrier up on the seat and moved like he was going to the bathroom, until she turned back to the service.

He walked over to the officer. There were about a dozen officers trying to move the gang members away from the chapel. They seemed to have it under control, but he started looking for quick exits for the three of them. This had the potential to get ugly fast.

He walked back to the pew, at least three escape routes mapped in his head as he sat down and moved the carrier where he could grab it quickly.

The rest of the service passed without incident, but when they left the church there was a crowd of protesters holding anti mutant signs. He rushed Karen into the limo, and out of the crowd. Once inside, she turned to him.

"What is this all about?"

"Evidently at least one of the kids that died was a mutant, and people are outraged about it." He glared at the protesters as they cut through the crowd. Things were really starting to get ugly.


	20. Chapter 20

The protesters really unnerved her. She'd never seen such hate focused on children before. Even the damned dealer didn't hate them, he used them, gave and sold them drugs, but he didn't actually hate them, did he? Victor thought he'd fooled her with the little 'going to the bathroom' trick, but she knew he'd been checking out the protesters, and the gang trying to get into the funeral. She was actually grateful that he was taking their safety seriously.

"So what do you want for lunch?" He asked, his long legs stretched out in the spacious limo.

"I thought you had it planned?" She teased.

"It's your neighborhood, I figured you'd know where the good food was." He grinned back at her.

"There's this little deli near my apartment. Great food, and great service." She knocked on the divider and gave the driver the address.

"Sounds good to me."

It really was her favorite place, and she remembered meeting friends there over the last few years. They had tables and chairs set up outside, in a raised area with an iron fence around it. The limo pulled up outside, and Victor told the driver to return in an hour.

"Karen." Pam, the owner, said with a smile. "The usual?"

"Sounds good." She grinned back.

"And you tall, dark, gorgeous and sinister?" Karen laughed. Pam was the reason this place did so well. She could read people, know when there was a problem, and usually, over the course of a sandwich, help you solve it.

"I'll have a roast beef, rare, with mayo."

"Any toppings?"

"Yeah, another layer of beef." he grinned, Pam jumped and Karen knew he'd flashed his fangs.

"Don't mind him, he's just a carnivore." Pam laughed and was already halfway through Karen's sandwich and soup. Victor handed Karen the carrier with June cooing happily, and he grabbed the tray with their meal.

"Drinks are on the house." Pam said, handing them two bottles of soda. Victor looked at it, and put one back.

"Don't like soda?"

"I prefer water." He said. Pam poured him a glass and they went out the screen door to the outdoor dining area. Karen noticed him constantly scanning the area.

"Do you think there'll be problems here?" She asked, finally.

"You never know, and this anti mutant shit is getting ugly. I'll be glad to get the hell out of New York for a while." He said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"I'm getting a little scared about it myself. Why can't they just leave mutants alone? Why all the hate?"

He shrugged and took another bite. "Some do it just to have something to hate because they can't look in a mirror without hating what they see. Some do it because they're scared, and frails fear what they don't understand. Some do it because they've had a bad run in with a mutant, or, in one particular case I know about, because they felt abandoned by their mutant parents because they were born normal."

"Who is that?" She asked, sipping her soup.

"Graydon."

"Who's that?"

"My other cub. Mystique left him in an orphanage when she found out he wasn't a mutant." He took another bite, his eyes scanning the crowds walking by, the air above, even the tops of the buildings.

"What happened, between you and Mystique. She seemed at least friendly when she was at the penthouse?"

"She dumped me as soon as she found out she was carrying. She didn't even tell me she was knocked up until about five years ago. Then she told me everything, right before Graydon was elected to the House of Representatives."

"THAT Graydon Creed? The founder of the Church of Humanity, the idiot that created the Friends of Humanity?" She was shocked. Graydon Creed was as anti mutant as you could get. He advocated mandatory sterilization for all mutants, any mutant convicted of a crime should be subject to the maximum penalties, and be a subject of experimentation. He gave Karen the creeps.

He just nodded. She shuddered, a sudden thought hitting her. She was that idiot's step mother.

"He doesn't come to family reunions does he?"

Victor laughed, and she smiled with him. Suddenly a familiar face walked by, then stopped and turned around.

"Karen?"

"Peggy."

"Where the hell have you been?" She asked as she walked into the deli's door. Karen waited until she got her sandwich and came out into the dining area. "I've been trying to call you all week."

"I've been a little busy," Karen said. "and I moved."

"Yeah I noticed that. I went by your apartment and someone else was living there." She dropped her tray on a nearby table and sat down with them, her sandwich in her hand. Peggy had been a friend for years, they'd met the day Karen came to New York from Oklahoma almost ten years ago. "Helen is pitching a fit, she can't find you either, and if you EVER need a maid-of-honor again, make sure it's not to a guy with a crazy mother, okay."

"She's been that bad?"

"She's called me every day this week, sometimes twice. Something about her attorney can't serve papers if they can't find you and proceeding with the case anyway."

"Shit." Karen said.

"What case?" Victor asked. Peggy jumped, and then glared at Karen.

"Sorry, Victor, this is Peggy Reed, one of my nearest and dearest friends, Peggy, this is Victor Creed, my husband."

"Your WHAT?"

"We were married yesterday." Karen said.

"Married, as in went to the court house and got a license married or stood in front of a judge so no one would know married?"

"Judge, but it's in today's paper." Victor growled.

Karen wanted to laugh. Evidently Peggy was getting to him.

"Wait a minute, Victor Creed, of CI Inc.?" Peggy asked.

"Yeah, what of it?" He snapped back.

"Karen you have GOT to call me. I want dish." Peggy said, grinning.

"Not much to dish. Victor asked me to help with June, and well...one thing led to another, he asked I said yes, so we just went and did it." Karen said, trying to make things seem normal.

"You know what I mean." Peggy glared. Victor glared at Peggy and Karen couldn't stop herself from laughing this time.

"I'll call you later. Today is going to be a bit hectic. We've got to finish lunch, get back to Manhattan, let June nap a bit, then dress for dinner out with friends." Karen said.

"Dinner out with friends? What friends? You've practically deserted yours." Peggy said with a huff.

"I've been out of pocket less than a week, for God's sake. Drop the pout, Peggy, it's putting lines on your face." Karen said.

"Fine...but call me. I get worried when you don't check in. I remember last time..." Karen glared at her. Victor was NOT going to find out about the last time she went out of pocket. He knew too much already.

"I'm listening." Victor said, and Karen groaned. She had a feeling she was going to wish she could disappear, instead of heal.

"Oh it was nothing, really, but it scared the hell out of me." Peggy tried to fudge. Karen decided to just get it out and over with.

"I went on a bender, okay. Broke into a liquor store, drained the place dry, then, went down the street to a bar and drank there until I was completely blacked out...Peggy had to bail me out of jail after I, evidently, decided the bar was a topless one and decided to do a striptease on one of the tables."

Victor just looked at her. "The whole liquor store?"

"Yes. Can we just forget it now?"

"Damn, and I thought almost 200 proof moonshine with Matt last night was bad...how long were you drunk?"

"I was sober by the time the cops pulled me out of the car at the station, so I don't know fifteen minutes or so." She said.

"Well - shit." He grumbled. "If that's it, it's just not worth drinking."

Karen glared at him, but saw the twinkle in his eye. He wasn't upset.

"Kinda stupid to send you to AA though...I mean it was obviously grief induced."

"Karen, I don't know where you found him, but does he have a brother." Peggy said.

"Not that I know of."

"Yeah, a half brother...but he's a dipshit." Victor growled. This was the first time she'd heard about any family but June. He had a brother?


	21. Chapter 21

After lunch they headed back to the penthouse. Victor wanted to rest, and let June get a good nap before dinner.

He was tucking the sleeping cub into her bed when Karen walked into the room.

"So how dressy is dinner tonight?"

"It's a nice restaurant, so dress up, I'm planning on one of my Armani's."

She just nodded and went into her old room. He was going to have to make sure she moved everything into their room soon. He watched her as she went through the closet.

"It's not he end of the world. You've passed at least three outfits that would work."

"I'm just nervous about meeting your friend. This isn't like Mort just stopping by."

"Karen, he's a mutant. He has some definite ideas about things. He's trying to recruit me for this group he runs, a pro-mutant group."

"Victor, I'm about mutated out. I knew I had a few in my class but to see the hatred for children, no matter what they could do, frightens me. Now you, and June, and my own family won't talk to me and..." She just dropped to the floor, tears flowing from her eyes.

He'd been expecting it, frails always broke down. She'd taken everything like a trooper, until now.

He pulled her up against him, and let her cry it out. All he could do was pat her back, and will her to breathe when the sobs were so violent she seemed to forget.

He had no idea how to fix her frail problems, so some of the kids were mutant in her class. That was becoming normal anymore, and he didn't think that was the problem. She was just going to have to adjust to him, and he wasn't going to change just because some frail taught him a few things in bed.

He stroked her back, and felt her legs start to give out. He picked her up and carried her to their bed. She curled up against his side, still crying, but not as violently. He stroked her hair out of her face, and felt that deep rumble in his chest as he tried to soothe her.

"Baby, we can't fix it today. Thursday, we're sending a message to leave the school and the kids alone. I'm tempted to make it all mutants too, but I don't want to stir up more trouble."

She just nodded against his chest.

"I just can't accept I'm a mutant. I mean my whole life, I just thought I was lucky, and never participated in any sports, never really had any illnesses after I hit my teens. Mom always used to say it was to make up for being such a sick kid."

"That actually sounds about right for a strong healing factor. It stays invisible until you need it. I've known healers that didn't realize it until they were in their sixties, and they still looked twenty. One day you wake up, and realize everyone around you is getting old and you're not." He brushed the top of her head with his lips. "It was really hard on James."

"Who is James?"

"My brother."

"You mean he's like you too?"

"More than you are actually. He has the senses, and claws that come out between his fingers.". He really didn't want to talk about James. His betrayal was still too new and raw, but that did remind him of something she needed to know.

"When you live as long as I have, you tend to hold grudges longer, and find that the adage is true. Revenge is best when served cold."

"Is that what happened? A grudge?"

"Something like that, it started about ten years ago, in Nam."

"I see." She said but could sense she didn't. It wasn't any of her business anyway.

She settled down against his chest, and it wasn't long until he heard a soft snore. He smiled and closed his eyes. A nap wasn't a bad idea for any of them.

He felt a movement, and let out a growl, if Wade or Dukes was trying to pull a prank he'd pull their guts out of their throats. He felt the bed move again. If it was James he was going to rip him a new asshole. It moved again and he woke fully, an arm grasped in his, claws covered in blood.

"Let go." He heard a frail. He took a sniff, it wasn't April, but was familiar, and he knew it, intimately.

He started to growl, but stopped. It was his mate, and he had her blood on his hands. "Karen?"

"I'm okay, just let go of my arm so it will heal." He could smell fear, stark terror. He turned and looked at her. Her dress was slashed with four long cuts, the fabric around then soaked in blood. Her arm, in his hand was mangled. He retracted his claws and watched as the muscle and bone and flesh knit back together, seamlessly.

"Fuck!" He whispered as he brought his hands to cover his face. He stopped, he could not stand the smell of her blood. He had to get it off, now!

"It's okay." She whispered.

"No it's not, I nearly killed you."

"You were having a nightmare, screaming at Jimmy not to leave.". She said, sitting on the bed next to him. He wanted to gag, to throw up, to get the scent of blood off both of them.

He stood, and picked her up in a fireman's carry.

"What are you..." Was all she got out before he dumped her into the shower and turned on the water.

"Victor!" She screamed. He ignored her and adjusted the water so they could get clean without freezing.

"Come here." He whispered, barely able to trust his voice. She stood up and walked over. His claws lengthened and he cut the rag off of her. He didn't see any wounds, not even pink marks where she was still healing. He leaned down and kissed her, hard. She wasn't getting away from him that easily, not now.

He felt her hands, first through his shirt, and then on his bare skin as she ripped the blood soaked cloth from his body. He removed anything in his way, until he was buried deep inside her, the urge to sink his teeth into her neck, to mark her in some way as his was hard to fight, but he did. He heard her scream, several times, her body clenching down on him as if to make him a part of her. He kept thrusting, the smell of blood faded in the water, and the smell of her, and her satisfaction taking its place. Finally, when he knew she was safe, even in that deep animal part of him, he succumbed to his own release, his knees trembling as he supported both of them against the shower wall.

"Okay, now that that's out of your system, want to explain?" He could hear the smile, but couldn't stop rubbing his face against her skin to look.

"I hurt you." It was stark and simple.

"You were having a nightmare."

"No excuse." He did look up at her then, what he saw stopped him dead. She trusted him, even after what happened, she trusted him.

"Well, if we're going to make dinner, we don't have time for a repeat." She dropped her legs from around his waist.

"Yeah, June's awake too." He said. She jumped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. He had to grin as her ass peeked out at him with every hurried step. He wasn't going to think about it. Not yet.


	22. Chapter 22

She was still breathing hard as she picked the crying baby up from the crib. She'd woken to excruciating pain, his claws buried in her arm, the front of her dress with four deep slashes soaked in her own blood. For the first time she came to grips with the fact that she was different, a mutant.

As soon as his claws left her arm the pain stopped and she watched in shock and fear as her body repaired itself before her eyes. She really was a mutant. She didn't know what prompted him to throw her in the shower, but she wasn't going to complain about the distraction.

She changed June as she thought, her hands moving as if on auto pilot. June didn't seem to mind, and Karen had to rescue her towel three times from grasping little hands. Finally June was dressed for dinner, and fed, and she put her back into the crib so she could get dressed herself.

"You could just lose the towel, it ain't like you got anything I ain't seen before." She glared at him, clothed in charcoal Armani, with a pale blue shirt and dark blue tie.

"Damn, nice suit." She grinned, catching the towel befor it dropped again.

"I'd say the same but the towel blocks my view." This time his grin was predatory. She glared at him, they didn't have time for what that look pulled out in her.

"Get dressed frail, we've got less than an hour to get to the restaurant."He growled, but the predatory look was still in his eyes.

She rushed into her room and grabbed the first outfit from the closet. It was a dark burgandy off the shoulder dress with matching shoes and a gold tone belt. She dressed quickly, feeling a little decadent in the black lace garter belt with black silk stockings. She just brushed her hair out and pulled it back with a gold hair clasp on one side.

"You'll do, let's go." He said from the door, June cradled against his hip and playing with his tie. She stopped moving for a second and just stared. It was somehow one of those perfect moments she never wanted to forget. This was her family. She grabbed a handbag that went with the belt, and her small wallet and walked over to them.

"What are you waiting for?" She said with a smile.

"This." He leaned down and kissed her. It wasn't like the shower, but it was just as possessive. "Now let's go."

He rushed them out the door. The same limo from earlier was waiting for them. He had June in her carrier between them on the seat.

Karen was almost excited, Phillip never took her uptown to eat so she'd only heard about the places they passed. The limo pulled up in front of one, and her excitement paled. Helen, Phillip's mother loved this place. She d  
>idn't need a run in with her dead fiancé's mother.<p>

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't want..."

"Magneto picked the spot, but we can call him and go somewhere else." She didn't want to ruin their plans.

"No, it's fine." He climbed out, and helped her out before grabbing the carrier. June was excited by the lights and noise and was cooing happily. Karen laughed as June's foot, including her new shoe, went right into the baby's mouth. That certainly improved her mood.

Inside they were directed to a semi private dining area. She could only describe their host as a gentleman. His hair was dark, with just hints of grey at the temples and his eyes were kind as he looked at her, then turned to the carrier and the little girl chewing on her shoe.

"Victor, tell me the paper was correct this morning."

"Don't know what you're talkin about, Old Man." Victor set June's carrier in the fourth chair at the table then held Karen's out for her. Their host stood as she seated herself.

"Karen Gr...Creed." She held her hand across the table.

"Eric Lenshire." He said as he raised her fingers to his lips. Victor growled as he took his own seat.

"I see the papers didn't lie."

"What are you goin on about, Old Man."

"Your marriage announcement, of course." Victor just shrugged.

"TelL me, my dear, do you have any special abilities?"

"Just healin, that I've seen" Victor answered for her.

"Unless you count putting up with him an ability." Karen said, drawing a glare from Victor and a full chuckle from Erik.

"She's great with kids." Victor finally said, "I mean, really great."

"I think that's more from experience than anything else. I'm the youngest of seven siblings." She explained.

"Don't discount it. I know someplace you can have your genomes mapped, and they can give you a general idea of what your X gene does."

"X gene?"

"It is what makes us different." Suddenly all the silver wear on the table was in mid air, then dropped slowly to the table perfectly in place. "I manipulate magnetic energy."

"You done with the parlor tricks?" Victor growled.

"Yes, Sabretooth." She looked at Victor, questioningly.

"He gives us code names, and prefers them to legal human names." Erik glared at Victor, and Karen realized the gentleman wasn't as gentle as he seemed. There was a strong will there, and a charisma that would make him a very difficult opponent.

"Victor, I need you." She was surprised he was so blunt.

"I told you I can't. First June, now Karen, I just can't leave with frails depending on me."

"And yet you are borrowing two of my Brotherhood for a tRip later this week?"

"I asked a couple friends for a favor."

"I'm not asking for much." Eric said, but Karen heard the unspoken yet. A sudden flash of color in the main dining area distracted her from their conversation. She just hoped Helen hadn't seen her, otherwise things were about to get very ugly. She suddenly wished she had the ability to sink through the floor.

"Karen?" Victor snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Earth to Karen?"

"Sorry, my...Phillip's mother was just seated over there, I just hope she...too late. Shit!" She said and tried to hide behind the menu.

"Is that you?" She heard Helen's grating voice ask. She didn't have to look to see the older woman looking down her nose.

"Hello, Helen." Karen said.

"Well you might have warned me you were going so far out of your comfort for dinner so mine wouldn't be ruined. So inconsiderate." Karen felt about three feet tall and shrinking fast. Helen intimidated her from the moment they met.

"I see you've wasted no time since my son's death, I knew you were a gold digger out for his trust fund and name. What do you call that...thing." Suddenly Karen was angry, it was one thing to run her into the ground but you didn't insult a baby.

"Her name is June..." Karen started.

"My daughter." Victor finished. "And if you have Anything to say about her, or my wife, you'd better say it now; because Rockefeller or not, you will leave this place in humiliation."

"Wife?" Karen could feel the pressure of Helen's disdain pushing her further down into the floor. She could see people looking at them, hear the whispers.

"Yes, I guess you don't read the paper." Victor's smile was cold, and Karen saw the inevitable flash of fangs and knew this wasn't going to end well at all.

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, she went after my son for his money too, and then killed him when she found out that I'd changed the conditions of the trust."

"From what I read it was an accident." Victor stood up. Karen could feel the rage rolling off of him and felt her own rage at this woman's insults over the years run straight up her backbone and out her mouth.

"Helen, if we'd gotten married when I wanted to, instead of letting you bully me into the fiasco you wanted, we never would have been in that car. If you hadn't set up the damned cake tasting on that night we never would have been in that car. It seems to me, the only other person besides the damned drunk driver that hit us that could be responsible for your son's death, is you!" Helen's face drained of color. She looked as if she'd been slapped.

"How dare you!"

"I'm sick of you and your old money dIsdain. Don't ever speak to me again. And leave us to our dinner." Karen sat down, and suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"That insurance money should have been mine, and I WILL get it.". Helen hissed. "You were nothing to Phillip, I am his mother."

"Here, take your damned blood money, and leave my wife alone." Victor pulled out his checkbook and quickly scribed a check, ripped it out and threw it in Helen's face.

"I don't want your money, Creed. I can see she tricked you the way she tricked my son. I can see she's put on quite a bit of weight after this pregnancy, though. I always knew she would, it is all she's good for anyway."

"Karen is adopting June, you bitch. Her mother gave her up to me to join the church."

"Go to hell, Creed. I can see you're lying, the proof is on her hips." Helen ripped the check up and dropped it on the table. "My attorney will be in contact."

"And?" Erik said as Helen walked away.

"My late fiancé's mother." Karen said quietly, feeling embarrassed by the whole scene.

"Don't worry, my dear, for what it is worth, you definitely married up." Victor snorted.

"Besides, the Rockefellers are known supporters of the Church of Humanity and the Friends of Humanity, both very well known anti mutant organizations."

Karen hadn't know that. What would have happened if her mutation was discovered after she married Phillip. He was a cop, and had a horrible temper at times. He'd never offered to hurt her, but she had no idea they were that anti mutant.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N  
>Sorry this one took so long, I got a little stuck. The lemonous was distracting me from the how they got there...so gratuitous lemonous alertus.<p>

XXXXXXXXXXXX

He was getting tired of her moping around. After dinner they'd come back to the penthouse and she'd gone straight to bed. She was asleep when he finished getting June settled, and he was pissed. She was the one who was supposed to handle the cub. He'd walked into the bedroom ready to give her hell about falling down on the job, but the salt in the air, her swollen eyelids, and the small whimpers even in her sleep made him wait.

Sunday wasn't much better. She took care of June in the morning until she started reading the paper. The damned waterworks started again, and he'd closed himself in his study to avoid them. He waited until he was sure she'd dozed off while June napped before grabbing the paper to see what set her off.

"Mrs. Helen Rockefeller accosted by mutants at local eatery." The headline read. There was a picture of him standing over the bitch, and it looked like he was about to hit her. He'd been throwing the check at her, but that wasn't how it looked.

"Stupid human bitch." He muttered and wondered how much trouble he'd be in if he just gutted the cow. He weighed the options and decided to let her live, but she was now on his "if he ever got the chance, and wouldn't get caught" list, along with Stryker, Graydon, Xavier and a few choice others. Eventually, he'd have the pleasure of ripping her to pieces.

"She might press charges." Karen said from behind him.

"Too many witnesses, she wouldn't make anything stick, and in the money game I got her beat." He growled.

"I'm just worried."

"The only thing you worry about is the cub, I don't need or want your worry frail." He couldn't let her know how much her being worried about him made something in his chest jump.

She went into the kitchen and he retreated to his study again. Damned frail had more tears in her than he thought possible. She needed to drink something or she'd dehydrate. He didn't want to worry about her, damn it. She was for the cub and for convenient sex, or not so convenient, since he couldn't just let himself go.

Right now all he wanted was to go in there and yell at her, but some instinct told him that would be bad...he wasn't sure why, but for once he was listening to his gut.

The timid knock on his door almost brought him out of his chair. What the fuck did she want. The door opened and Karen walked in, carrying a plate.

"I thought you might be hungry." Her voice was low and submissive. Where the fuck was her backbone today.

"What the fuck is your problem?" He snapped as she set down the plate on the corner of the desk.

"Nothing." She turned to walk out, but the scent of pain rolling off of her was more than he was going to take.

"Fuck this shit." He growled and surged from his seat. He used one arm and swept everything off his desk in one motion. She jumped, but froze in place. He crossed the distance between them in one step, his hand tangling in her hair as he whipped her around to face him. He could see and smell the tears, and it flat pissed him off.

"If you're not gonna talk, I can think of a few other things you need to be doing." He felt her tremble as he dragged her to the now bare desktop. He whipped her around again, and forced her face down across it.

"Victor!" She screamed, but he wasn't letting up. He pushed her skirt up, ripping off her underwear with one swipe of his claws, the blood just urging him on. The blood and the surge in her arousal. He'd think about why her blood was pushing him on later.

He used one knuckle to ease between her folds, stroking the firm nub he'd made acquaintance with the last few days. This time his name was more of a whispered moan and he grinned. This is what his frail should smell like, aroused and with just a tinge of fear and blood. He unfastened his jeans and slammed home, deep into her, the surprised whimper and scent of both pain and arousal urged him on. He wasn't interested in her cumming at the moment, this was about who was in charge, as he set a bruising rhythm, and feeling her clamp down as she screamed his name just urged him deeper, and faster.

He felt her trembling, her legs shaking on either side of his, the hand in her hair, holding her in place tensed, pulling her back, he watched her back arch as she tried to do what he wanted but he knew it was hurting her, but in a way she really wanted. He took the hand at her hip and reached around and grabbed her breast, he felt his claws scrape skin through her blouse and growled low, the fresh blood, if only for the brief second before her factor healed it made him want to taste it.

He pulled he back further, the muscles in her back straining to acquiesce, and he leaned over her, his lips brushing against the back of her neck, then down to her shoulder. He could feel her trembling, clamped down hard on his cock buried deep inside her, he could smell the orgasm rolling through her and bit hard, through the cloth, deep into the muscle where her neck met her shoulder. Her blood was sweet in his mouth, full of the pleasure pain she was feeling as he fucked her to another deep hard orgasm, his teeth never leaving her flesh.

If he was going to have to smell pain, it had to be him causing it. Letting others hurt his frail looked bad, and he wasn't ever going to let that cold bitch anywhere near his family. he could feel his orgasm nearing, and he wasn't going to try to stop it.

His teeth released her flesh and the roar out of his mouth was enough to tell her she'd pleased him. He slipped down into his desk chair, releasing her hair, and the hand that was twisted in the remains of her blouse. He shrugged, better there than her ass.

He could hear her breathing, and grinned. He could smell her satisfaction.

"Next time I ask you what's wrong, you might want to answer me." He growled and slapped her across the bare ass still trembling in front of him. His grin grew larger, both at the blazing red hand print, and the fresh surge of her scent.

She looked back over her shoulder at him, and he was pleasantly surprised at the smile on her face.

"If that's what you plan to do if I don't, I'll have to think about it." She said he laughed, there was the spitfire he'd come to know, and grabbed her hips and pulled her off the desk and into his lap.

"You'd have ta think about it?"

"Yeah, I mean, great sex does put things in perspective, sometimes." She actually tuned and nuzzled against his shoulder. He helped her settle so she was across his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. He brushed his cheek against her forehead, feeling her calming against his chest.

"Great sex, huh?" He chuckled. If she thought him exerting his dominance was great sex, he wondered what she'd think if he was really pissed.

"Yeah, but next time, could you eat lunch first, I think its scattered between here and the living room."

"Fuck lunch, I just had my lunch." He grinned. He felt her sigh, and tensed his arms. He wasn't going to let her go, he still wanted to know what was going on inside her mind.

"I just don't want any more trouble with Helen, and I don't want to drag you and June into my mess. I want to try to handle it myself."

"Too late for that...you're my mate, your problems are mine, now. So don't worry about the cold bitch, my attorneys will make her wish she were dead, death's too good for the likes of her."

The tension drained out of her, and he realized, she'd been worried that he wasn't going to back her.

"Karen, you need ta get used to the idea, I protect what's mine, and you are mine. Phillip and your old life won't touch you if I can help it, unless you want it to, like that Peggy we met."

She just nodded, and he stroked her back through the fabric of her blouse.

"I think we're both way over dressed at the moment." He whispered, stroking his cheek over her hair. She reached up tentatively and brushed his lips with her fingers. He didn't feel the panic he normally did when people touched his face.

"Why don't you like to be touched?"

"Bad childhood." He hoped she'd leave it.

"Please." The plea in her voice made him want to tell her.

"Two reasons really. My Pa would tie me down and rip my fangs out of my mouth when he was drunk, claws too. Then there was Mrs. Howlett, James's mother. She'd come to our shack for my Pa to fuck her limp, and she'd always run her fingers over my cheek when he was done with her, she smelled of booze and guilt and hate, I never liked the smell."

"Thank you." She whispered. He wasn't sure what for, but her hand cupped his cheek, her lips brushed across his, and he smiled. Her touch and scent didn't bother him a bit. He returned her kiss.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N Sorry for this being so short. I want to get to the gore and stuff but it might take me a while, I've had some personal issues in the last few weeks, a close family member died suddenly, so I haven't been able to write like I usually do. Please keep the reviews coming, that's about the only thing keeping me writing at the moment.

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The rest of the week was quiet. Victor would crawl out of bed, shower and leave the penthouse before dawn. Karen spent her days taking care of June, marveling at how quickly she grew and changed. By Thursday, she was cutting her fifth tooth. She was constantly chewing on her feet, in shoes or out. Karen filed the sharp points off her finger and toe nails twice a day, but she couldn't keep her from cutting her lips and face on them.

The nights were complicated. Victor was indifferent, or seemed to be, to her household work. He never remembered to come home in time for dinner, and Karen learned he'd eat when he made it in. Tuesday he brought in several large suitcases and she started packing for her and June.

After he came home he would growl and bluster until she either retreated to her room; which usually caused a fight that ended with her breathless and pinned over some piece of furniture, or against a wall, or she'd blow up at him and end up breathless and awake half the night in bed until he groaned and went to sleep.

She didn't learn any more about him or his life prior to her calling him, and she had a feeling she was going to have to work for every tidbit she could worm out of him. She was married to him and other than the fact that he was both an accountant and a hit man, he was a total stranger.

This wasn't how she'd imagined her life. In some ways it was much better, he didn't spare any expense on anything, but she wanted the relationship her parents had. She remembered her father coming in from all day in the fields, the whole family sitting down for dinner, and after dinner, her parents out on the front porch in a hanging swing, just talking about nothing and everything. She remembered going to sleep to their voices, and feeling so secure and safe.

She'd planned on that with Phillip, working the farm, talking until she couldn't keep her eyes open, and quiet nights sleeping in his arms. Instead she was married to an insatiable man, who had no desire to know anything about her or her hopes and dreams, who's nightmares woke her three or four times after she was finally allowed to sleep, and who hogged the blankets, sheets and pillows. She was actually looking forward to a few nights alone while he went to Egypt, she might actually get some rest.

She looked in the mirror. She was putting on concealer more and more as the circles under her eyes got darker and darker. The plane was waiting, and he'd gone to finalize the arrangements. She was nervous, but knew she didn't really have any say in what was happening.

She finished getting dressed, and checked on June. She'd managed to get one shoe off and was gurgling happily as she chewed on her stockinged foot. Karen laughed and picked the baby up. It was moments like this she lived for, no matter what Victor thought about his prowess in bed. When it was just her and June and something happened that only she got to see.

The luggage had been picked up, except her purse and June's diaper bag. She loaded the diaper bag with powdered formula, jars of baby food, and checked the diapers and wipes to make sure she had enough for a sixteen hour flight. She fed June the last of the food from her dinner last night, and tried to keep the baby as clean as possible.

The stroller was next to the door and she set it up while June chewed on a teething cookie in her high chair. As soon as the baby lost interest in the cookie, Karen cleaned her up, and with a glance at the clock loaded her and the diaper bag into the stroller. Victor should be back any moment. Karen grabbed her purse with her new passport and the travel visa for Italy in it.

The door opened as she slung the purse over her shoulder. She glanced at Victor, but something was wrong.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Mystique's voice came from Victor's mouth. "You knew it wasn't him?"

"I think it's how you were standing. Victor has more swagger.". Karen said.

"I'll take it under advisement. Now let's move.". The last was in a fair imitation of Victor's voice, not as much gravel, but it should pass.

Karen pushed the stroller out and 'Victor' pushed the button for the elevator. They didn't talk the whole way down, and Karen walked straight to the limo. The car seat was in place and she strapped June in while the stroller was stowed in the trunk. 'Victor' tossed the diaper bag at her and she glared.

The driver didn't have to be told where to go, and Karen was quiet for the drive to the airport. She unstrapped the car seat and 'Victor carried June onto the plane. Karen followed and sat down in the spacious cabin. The car seat was strapped into the seat next to her, and she heard the stroller loaded into the cargo compartment. As they taxied down the runway and took off, she watched the New York skyline grow smaller. She wasn't sure where her life was going, but it wasn't in any direction she'd planned.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N Sorry this one is so short, but gore doesn't take that much space...

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He slipped into the rotting building. He only had a few more hours and he'd be out of this stinking hell hole and on to building a new life. He'd called Eric after leaving the penthouse and told him about the pusher and what he wanted to do. Eric agreed, it was time The Brotherhood stood up and was noticed.

Victor grabbed the half starved, trembling with withdrawals, piece of shit from the closet he'd hidden him in.

"Wake up, sleepy head, wouldn't want you to miss your own funeral." He growled. The idiot actually tried to run, and Victor grinned. He chased him, giving him enough of a lead that there was actually hope mixed in with the stench of fear and excrement that wafted off his target.

He deliberately walked past his hiding place, made a show of looking for him, and, as the punk made his leap for freedom caught him by the neck and squeezed hard.

"Fun's over. As much as I like to play with my prey, you're not worth eating, and I only really play with my food." He held the punk in front of him almost with two fingers, like he'd carry one of the cub's diapers.

He dropped the dealer in the room he'd set up a week ago. Plastic covered everything, and nothing in the room could be traced back to him, or through him to Karen. He used a scrap of leather and tied the dealer's hands in front of him, then hooked them to the winch and pulled him up by his arms. He grunted when he heard the whiner's arms dislocate, and sneered in disgust at the scent of tears.

He'd planned this so carefully, the careful cuts with his claws, meticulously drawing his message onto every inch of skin. Not a single mistake could be allowed, so he began his work slowly, meticulously.

"Mutants Unite, take our Schools, our Parks, our Streets back from Drug Dealers and Thugs." Over and over. He ignored the screams, then whimpers, then silent sobs of pain. Finally, when he was sure his work was finished, he inserted one claw, slowly, under the dealer's chin, right into the V of his throat, and sliced down his rib cage, his stomach and stopped right above the shriveled and useless thing hanging between the dealer's legs.

His hand held the slice closed, like a suture, as he leaned over and whispered. "You will never kill another child, mutant or not."

He let go, and watched as the membranes of the dealer's body tried to hold his internal organs in place. He released the winch, and wrapped the nearly dead corpse into a piece of plastic for transport.

He dropped it, gently, he didn't want to spoil the effect. He unrolled the cooling body in the alley, wrapped him in a trench coat, and dragged him to an unoccupied bench near the school.

He propped the dealer up, then opened the trench coat, and gave the body a good shake. The internal organs burst out of the membranes. The just were not designed to hold things in without muscle and bone to help. He knew the smell and gore would draw someone to the message quickly. This time of the day, there were very few kids in this park, mostly adults, joggers, walkers, and other fitness nuts.

He ducked into a shadow, certain he hadn't been spotted, and made his way quickly to his secondary location. He cleaned up quickly and slipped out of the back of the bar. He had a friend who'd sold his bike to some guy in DC and was driving it down, then was going to catch the plane with his wife and child on board. His alibi was he'd been at the bar all morning, consoling his friend with a broken leg, and catching up with some other buddies before heading out to DC with the bike.

He grinned as he gunned the bike to life. He was done with New York, for a while, his work here was done, he didn't even look back. Karen and June were waiting on the plane, and he knew his life was changing. She was his, no matter what, and she'd better not forget it. His debt was paid, now she had her whole life to repay him.


End file.
